Burlap Christmas Gift Tags

Things have been a little slow on the blogging front lately as all my attention has been turned to my new studio. Hopefully, all fingers crossed, it will be ready for Christmas and be the best Christmas present ever!

So my Burlap adventures have been curbed somewhat, however I couldn't resist a little burlap for Christmas.

This year I decided to go with brown paper packaging tied up with string (these are a few of my favourite things!). So for the gift tags I made some simple Burlap tags.

Here's the how to:

Cover a piece of A4 cardboard with spray adhesive and lay your burlap over the top. I then placed a piece of baking paper over the top and weighted the burlap down to make sure it sticks. I used a box of champagne bottles - after all it is Christmas time!

Cutest Burlap Christmas Sacks Ever!!

OMG! I am in love! Just found these on the harrow and green website. The cutest ever personalised Burlap Christmas Sacks.

They come in four different designs and can be personalised with your childs name on them. I just love them and must have one for each of my boys!

Even the Chickens are Crazy about Burlap - a perfect laying bed!

In the June school holidays the boys convinced me to get some Chickens. We bought 4 Black Chickens from our local produce store all 5 weeks old. We had had chickens about 2 years ago so we already a hutch fitted out with 6 laying cabins which we thought would make a perfect home.

The Perfect Sewing Chair

I recently discovered the perfect little sewing chair covered in Burlap! Shelley over at SowandDipity.com recovered this old sewing chair using Burlap Sacks.

Isn't this just stunning? To see the step by step TUTORIAL follow this link. I am inspired now, I will see old chairs in the thrift store in a whole new light!

Would love to see what other things you've covered in Burlap. Feel free to share in the comments.

DIY tutorial for Jute Webbing Flowers

Here is the DIY tutorial I promised on how to make a Jute webbing Rose. 

Sewing the roses out of webbing means it's quick and simple as there is no fraying to worry about. I used about 50cm of webbing to make this one flower, so it is also economical.

It's easier to show you than explain it, so I have attached the video link below.

These Webbing Roses are easy to make and are perfect for embellishing your Burlap Projects. I have used them on the Silverware Caddy but you could also use them as part of a Burlap Wedding Bouquet.

http://www.burlapbaglady.com/2012/10/silverware-caddy-tutorial.html

Silverware Caddy Tutorial

I recently stopped by the lovely Mary Beth's Blog Cupcakes and Crinoline. She had created the most delightful Silverware Caddy. 

Mary Beth lined a metal tub with some Burlap to safely store her Silverware in. I just fell in love immediately. To get the low down on how to create your own follow this link to her tutorial.

Inspired by her tutorial I set out to create my own.

Burlap goes High Fashion

I knew I wasn't going crazy when I decided to create a blog dedicated to the wonder, charm and versatility of the Burlap Sack! Here is proof that the Burlap Bag can be chic and fashionable.

Look what's just hit the catwalks this week from D&G as part of their Spring 2013 collection.......

This is amazing, and takes Burlap to a whole new level. If I had the body, I would whip one up for myself. I think this one is more my style...more forgiving!

Sweetest Burlap Ring Cushion

I don't know why, but lately I seem to noticing the coolest DIY Burlap Projects for Weddings! I wish I had of seen them before I got married, I would have had a Burlap Wedding for sure.

Anyway, browsing out there in the Internet this week I noticed this great little DIY tutorial from Ruffled for this gorgeous Burlap Ring Pillow. Click the link to see the full DIY tutorial.

Isn't it just the cutest thing?

I would love to hear about any other cute Burlap Wedding Ideas you may have and feature them on this blog. Leave a comment with your ideas. 

Seek and You Shall Find - Sourcing Burlap

Burlap is one of the most affordable sewing fabrics. Burlap can be purchased in most fabric stores by the metre. It usually comes in extra wide rolls and is very affordable. It also comes in a range of colours, where the manufacturer has dyed the natural hessian in to bright and vibrant colours. This is important to keep in mind as not all Burlap sewing and craft projects have to have the natural Burlap colouring. In fact Burlap can be quite striking when the coloured versions are used.

Burlap Wedding Bouquet

I just love the versatility of Burlap and I am constantly amazed at the creative uses people find for it. For example Wedding Bells magazine blog recently showed this gorgeous Burlap Wedding Bouquet (to view their blog click on the link). Such a lovely idea. It's super affordable, original, and best of all you can keep it forever without it wilting or turning brown. Imagine having a bouquet like this that you could hand down from one generation to the next - wish I had of thought of this for my wedding! (Though now with three boys - doubt it would have got used again anyway!)

Burlap Shearers Moccasins

The Petting Zoo

I was surprised to learn recently of Burlap being used for shoes. Whilst still at the local country show held in Brisbane - the Ekka, we went to the Petting Zoo for the boys to feed and cuddle the Baby Animals. Upon exiting the petting zoo we ended up at a stage decorated with Burlap sacks, so of course it immediately caught my eye!

Burlap as Wearable Art

The Ekka is on at the moment (our local country comes to the city show in Brisbane, Australia) and so we took the boys down last weekend for a day of fun!

First stop was to visit the craft section and see how we fared with our entries this year. My 6 year old son has entered his owl in the under 16 years machine sewing section - unfortunately they only awarded 1st and 2nd, and his entry was the only other one - a bit mean I thought given it's a kids section. But we told him he obviously came third - which is a great achievement!

His is the small owl in the centre!

My Burlap Owl was pipped at the post in the Toys section for some really lovely and very detailed fabric toys, this was quite a competitive section.

Antique Therapy

Today I managed to steal an hour to browse the New Farm Antique Centre. It's located at 85 Commercial Rd New Farm and is a collective store filled with 53 different dealers mini stores. 

Burlap Cushions

It was a treasure trove of gorgeous vintage and antique finds, but as usual I was drawn to the Burlap items.

Strawberry Basket the Prefect table centrepiece

Strawberry Burlap Basket

 The boys have been begging me to go to the local Strawberry Farm to pick their own strawberries. We went last year and they had such a great time, they have been waiting patiently for strawberry season to start. 

For full instructions on how to make your own Burlap Basket press

How to Grow a Sack of Potatoes

- Literally!    Even if you live in a tiny apartment.

If you've ever grown your own potatoes you would be familiar with the great potato hunt that occurs at the end of each crop! For those of you that haven't, I'll explain. Potato's grow as a plant that comes out of the ground, whilst under the ground the potatoes are forming. The potatoes are ready when the plant dies off. The problem is you then have to find the potatoes by randomly digging through the ground around the plant. This is relatively easy for a potato farmer with a tractor but not so easy for the home gardener.

But I have a Burlap solution of course!

Growing your own potato plant inside a burlap sack makes the process of retrieving your loot of potatoes really easy because you know that all your potatoes will be contained within the sack. It is a great project for kids, and non gardeners as well, as it is very straightforward and low maintenance. Plus it looks fabulous in any garden or deck and also makes the perfect apartment garden.

For full instructions on how to grow your own sack of potatoes press >

Inspiration all around - inspiring ideas for using burlap

Love, Love, Love this cushion!

It seems retail therapy is the flavour of the month this month. I think with the kids on school holidays I actually have some time (even though it is usually 5 minutes with a bribe to the video store to follow) to visit all the beautiful homewares stores we are lucky to have in Noosa.

Last week I popped into Eclectic Style in Noosaville and was surprised to find a large range of Burlap items scattered through their shelves. It appears that Burlap is more in fashion 
than ever. A return to a simple design aesthetic has increased the popularity of Burlap in recent years particularly in the home decoration area.

Anyway here are a few of the treasures I came across.

Burlap for Retail Displays

It's school holiday time and last week we were fortunate enough to take the whole family to tropical Far North Queensland. The kids had a fabulous time Go Karting, going on the Skyrail and Kuranda Steam Train. We even went to Paronella Park where you can walk around the ruins of an early 20th century Spanish castle. A magical place and a must see if you are in the area.

Burlap Doorstop Pattern and Instructions - a gift for someone with everything

A great idea for a fast, easy and cost effective gift is a Burlap Door Stop. Last week was my Mothers Birthday, and the problem I have every year is what do you buy for someone who has everything? So usually I end up making some unique creation which I know she can't buy anywhere else. So this year I decided to give her a Burlap Door Stop perfect to use for the doors opening to her newly rennovated outdoor room.

The Finished Door Stop

Here's how I made it.

Materials:

Burlap
Contrasting Fabric (I used an upolstery remant, but cotton or polyester would also work well)
Ribbon for tag
Ziplock Bag
Sand
General Sewing Supplies

First I created my pattern by drawing a 15cm by 15cm square for the base. I cut two of these out of Burlap as I wanted the base to have extra reinforcement so it is two layers. Then I drew a horizontal line 15cm long. Then at the midpoint (7.5cm) I drew a vertical line 15cm long. And then joined the top midpoint to the two edges of the horizontal line to form a triangle. This sounds more complicated than it is - see photo for example.

Preparing Burlap for Sewing and Crafting

When I got my first delivery of Burlap coffee sacks, I was so excited to get sewing straight away, that I thought I must prewash and press my fabric, as I do for every other fabric, and get sewing. So I enthusiastically threw all the sacks in the washing machine and pressed 'start'. An hour later I went to retrieve my new fabrics and found a spun web of burlap fibres and the twisted remnants of my prior sacks. For weeks I was still retrieving fibres from the washing machine with each wash. So learn from my experience and never put your burlap sacks in the washing machine.

A "Clever" Burlap applique shirt for Under 8's Day

Here's a Burlap sewing project for all you Mums out there. Last week was the annual 'Under 8's Day' at my son's school. The request came home from school that children wear a shirt decorated with one of the following words: Sporty, Dream, Happy, Fun, Clever, Special or a similar word of their choice.

After much deliberation my son choose clever, despite my trying to convince him that dream would be nice - with a nice cloud (a la easy for mummy to sew). But alas 'Clever' it was. So we discussed what makes someone 'Clever' and my 6 old thought that he is clever because he knows that 10 + 20 = 30. Can't argue with that!

So we found a plain black shirt in the wardrobe and set about designing the shirt. Always keen to incorporate Burlap into a project I suggested the following design and it was agreed. He went off to bed and Mummy was left with the challenge of bringing his creation to life by morning.

So here's what I did, in case you too need a shirt for a 'Clever' child!

How to: Baby Shower Favour, Burlap wrapped Candle

As promised here's the 'How to' for the Burlap Wrapped Candle I used as a baby Shower Favour for my son's Baby Shower.

I knew I was having a Boy, but if you didn't know whether it was a boy or girl you could just use white or yellow or green ribbon instead. And of course, if you know your having a girl then use Pink ribbon.

For the full how to press read more bellow or view our youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfhIR_oybFU

Burlap vs Hessian vs Jute - What's the difference?

When I first started working with Burlap (or Hessian as we call it here in Australia), I was bombarded and confused by terms such as Hessian, Burlap and Jute. They seemed to be used interchangably, but I wasn't sure what the exact difference was. So I went to a reliable source in our digital world - Wikipedia.

Wikipedia.com defines Hessian as follows: 

 

Crazy about Burlap

Whether you call it Burlap or Hessian, you can' t find a more useful and versatile fabric. Burlap has an earthy and rustic quality to it that adds a special charm to any project.

And the best part about Burlap is it is often free! No more outlay at the fabric store for some fancy cotton print, just a visit to your local farmer or food producer should yield an abundance of cloth to keep even the keenest sewer or crafter busy for ages. And what's more, by utilising this by-product of the food industry you are actually helping the environment by recycling an otherwise often discarded product.

Burlap Wrapped Candles for decoration at food buffet and then also functioned as a lovely Shower Favour !