10 Fun Facts about Burlap

Today, I thought I would share with you some little know but interesting facts about Burlap.

1.   It originated from India which it was used for rope and paper production
2.  The English brought it to Britain where the Scottish first spun it into yarn
3. Bangladesh and India are the worlds largest producers of Burlap, closely followed by China, Myanmar, Brazil and Thailand

The History and Origin of Burlap

Burlap is a fabric with a rich history. Whilst it is unknown where the name Burlap came from, Hessian, as it is otherwise known, is said to have originated from Germany. The soldiers from a state in Germany called Hesse wore uniforms made from Burlap. And as such were known as Hessians – hence where the name Hessian came from.

Burlap is made from the fibers of the jute plant. Originating from India, where it was used for rope, it was the English that brought the plants back to Britain in the late 1700’s. It was in Scotland where it was first spun into yarn.

Bendable Burlap Flowers

Well it's been almost 4 weeks now since our phone line went down, and our Telco has just fixed it. No phone line, no broadband, no blogging. So in lieu of being able to blog I have spent some time recently in the studio creating numerous things which I will share with you over the coming weeks.

But to get things up and running again I would like to share with you these gorgeous bendable Burlap Flowers I found on Hani's Blog (before loss of Internet connection!).

Hani over at Craftionary created these beautiful Burlap Flowers. The great thing is, she has used wire to give them structure so you can bend them into all sorts of realistic positions. If you want to get the low down on how to make these gorgeous flowers head over to Craftionary where Hani shares a really simple step step guide on how to create these gorgeous flowers.

Her cousin has used them to decorate a wreath, which looks fabulous. I'm also thinking unique wedding bouquet. So many uses for these flowers!

St Patricks Day Burlap Shamrock Bunting

Inspired by last weeks post, where I featured a paper shamrock bunting for St Patricks Day from Lolly Jane blog, I thought I would create a Burlap version.

Armed with Burlap, Potatoes, Paint and a Knife I set to work.

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

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!)

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

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.

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.

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: