Have you seen the price of planters these days? Either they are cheap plastic and affordable, or super cute and a fortune. If you're like me, you spent the garden budget on flowers and forgot all about the planters. Oops.
No need to worry, because all you need is a wire hanger and 1/2 yard of burlap to make your own planter. This burlap planter is country chic and great for your plants. The burlap drains extra water to prevent rot, while keeping the soil damp on hot summer days. I've used a plant liner (cost $0.99), but really, a hand full of hay or even some muslin would work. No need to get all that fancy mumbo-jumbo.
Total Cost: $5 (seriously)
From start to finish, this project will take roughly 20 minutes. Awesome, right? They make great gifts (as my soon-to-be-birthday-girl neighbor continually reminds me) and look great hanging pretty much anywhere. I don't recommend using indoors, because the burlap will leak excess water. Great for the plant, not so great for floors. However, if you use vinyl fabric and are careful with watering, you could definitely use this planter indoors.
Supplies
1/2 yard of burlap
Plant liner (or muslin/hay; see above)
Wire hanger and pliers
Flowers! and some potting soil
Sewing Machine and Universal Needle (however, this could be done all by hand)
Hand Sewing Needle
Multipurpose Thread
Scissors
Place plant liner on burlap for tracing. You’ll have to place your hand inside the liner and “mold” the circle as you trace to accommodate for the depth. If you don't mold the planter, you'll end up with an oval shape instead of a circle. If you don't have a plant liner, just drawl a big circle.
Add an additional 1 1/2 inch border to original tracing. Eventually, you will fold over the border to encase the hanger.
Shape the circle into a bowl by folding 4 to 5 box pleats. For our purpose, it’s better if the inner folds don't butt up together like a normal box pleat. If we did a tight box pleat, we would end up with a small opening and large base instead of a 'bowl' appearance. To secure the pleats in place, sew a seam 1 inch from the raw edge. Eventually, we will turn the bowl inside out and fold this raw edge under.
The secret ingredient. Remove the tube and start unwrapping the hanger hook.
Try your best to work out all the kinks and mold into a hoop by interlocking the two ends. If you have arthritis or carpal tunnel, ask a friend to help. This part can be a bit difficult.
With the basket turned inside out, turn the raw edges under to enclose the metal hoop. Using a hand needle and matching thread, whip stitch in place. I really recommend taking the extra 5 minutes to do this by hand. The idea of using a sewing machine that close to thick metal makes me nervous. If you cringe at the thought of hand sewing, use a zipper foot to sew the casing. And maybe some shatter proof goggles.
Cut 12 equal strands 1 -2 inches wide. The length will depend on how far you want the basket to dangle. Mine are about 15 inches long. As you braid, the burlap will fray. No worries. Just braid tightly into 4 separate straps. Then, you can go back and snip the strands that poke out. I've had my basket up for about 2 weeks and it has hasn't unraveled.
Criss-cross the straps over each other and sew the raw edges to the inside of the basket right below the wire hoop. Sew the straps securely with multiple seams reversing and crossing each other. This can be done on a sewing machine, just pay attention to the metal hoop.
Finished! Go hang that beauty and show off your beautiful flowers!
