test tab4

Make It Monday: Decorative Jars

jars

pamsmakeitMy wedding is fast approaching and our main aim was to have everything to have a homely and hand-made feel to it and what better way to do that than…. MAKE IT YOURSELF! YAY!

One of our homemade touches is decorative jars for our flowers as the center-pieces.

1. I randomly selected some jars of similar size and some random scraps of material.
2. I cut the material into lengths. For my jars I selected a loose weave hessian for the base material and a fine weave cotton for the top material. In some cases I have added lace over the top for a third layer.
3. When securing the material to the jar I used double sided table on the ends and pva glue under the hessian. DO NOT use pva clue to stick cotton as it will seep through the material, discoloring it and making it look grubby. I double folded the cotton as it made the colour stronger but also gave a stronger edge.

Everyone of my large jars has string around the middle. I will now show you a clever way to create a wrapped effect with the bow in the middle.

bow1

 

 

Step 1: cut a length of string that goes round the jar 5 times, with enough excess for a bow.When you have done this take one end of the string. Roughly measure how much string you will need to make half of a bow. Place this section of string against the jar pointing down.

bow2

 

 

Step 2: Wrap the long section of string around the jar ones and secure with your thumb over the shorter section of string. Now line the string up so that it will run around the jar again. It must go over the top of the short piece. Wrap the string round the jar again but make sure that you butt it up underneath the previous row.

bow3

 

Step 3: Now take both ends of the string (the short piece from step 1 and the opposite end – the long bit) point both these piece up the jar. Make sure that they are roughly the same length and that there is enough to make a bow.  You will then take the excess middle section of string and continue to wrap this around the jar. Make sure that the string goes over the top of both the ends and that each row is pressed up to the bottom of the row above.

bow4

 

Step 4: You should end up with a small loop for the last row of string. As shown here.
Pull this round.

 

 

bow5

 

Step 5: Once you have 5 lines pull both the ends tight and tie in a knot.

 

 

bow6

 

Step 6: Finish with a neat bow. (You bow should be in the middle of the 5 rows.

 

 

And voila! Easy yet pretty jam jars. (Which can be used for pretty much anything!

pamsms4tune

spacer

One comment on “Make It Monday: Decorative Jars

  1. barefootmedstudent

    Oh, I love these! I’m not very good with crafts but this looks reasonably do-able. And I adore your blog with the little rag dolls!

Leave a Reply