DIY Friday: Burlap Napkin Wraps
For beautiful wedding tables you need to look at the details. Textures, layers, and florals are hugely effective, so today we’ll prove it by making a simple burlap napkin wrap into a gorgeous table accessory. Using decorative accents, you can do so much more with your tablescapes.
Look #1 – Naturally Woodland
What You’ll Need:
- Chocolate Brown Burlap Wrap by the Roll
- Glue
- Scissors
- Craft paper (multiple shades)
- Leaf design paper punch
- Mini Wooden Clips
- Dried eucalyptus stems
Instructions
Step 1: Choose the colour of craft paper you want—in this tutorial we used green—and gather about three different shades of it together. Then take a leaf-shaped hole punch and punch out some shapes.
Step 2: Measure your burlap to see how much you’ll need, making sure you take into account the excess you’ll need when the ends are folded over. (In this tutorial, our final wrap was approximately 5 inches long, so you’ll want the burlap cutting to be just over double that.)
Step 3: Fold the burlap in half lengthways so that one edge is frayed and the other smooth and curved.
Step 4: Fold over the ends of your burlap so that each end meets—overlap them a little bit and secure together with glue. You’ll be left with something like a sleeve/ring of burlap. (Ours was approximately 5 inches long.)
Step 5: Take your craft paper leaves and glue them to your burlap. We put a cluster in the top left corner and scattered the rest to the right.
Step 6: Using a mini wooden clip (the one in this tutorial was painted with natural wood finish), we attached some stems of dried eucalyptus to the top cluster of craft paper leaves to complete the look.
The Final Look:
This look is very flexible. You can get a whole range of wonderful effects if you choose your materials with care:
- Use burlap in different colours, or use a different material altogether
- Choose a broader range of colours for your craft paper and apply them in different ways—for example, an ombre effect of one colour fading into the next.
- Use a hole punch of a different shape.
- Forgo craft paper entirely and use accessories like buttons.
- Use an alternative plant to eucalyptus, in larger or smaller quantities.
Look #2 – Shabby Chic
What You’ll Need:
- Ivory Burlap Wrap by the Roll
- Glue
- Scissors
- Ivory Ruffled Fabric Ribbon
- Dried seeded eucalyptus
Instructions
Step 1: Measure your burlap to see how much you’ll need, making sure you take into account the excess you’ll need when the ends are folded over. (In this tutorial, our final wrap was approximately 5 inches long, so you’ll want the burlap cutting to be just over double that.)
Step 2: Fold the burlap in half lengthways so that one edge is frayed and the other smooth and curved.
Step 3: Fold over the ends of your burlap so that each end meets—overlap them a little bit and secure together with glue. You’ll be left with something like a sleeve/ring of burlap. (Ours was approximately 5 inches long.)
Step 4: Cut a strand of your ruffled fabric ribbon to the same length as your burlap wrap.
Step 5: Trace a thin layer of glue down the centre of your ivory ruffled fabric and fix it to the centre of your ivory burlap wrap.
Step 6: Use 4 to 5 paper or fabric flower petals. Layer them on top of your ribbon and glue them together into a flower.
Step 7: Then, glue the entire flower to the left side of your burlap wrap.
The Final Look:
Again, you can do a lot with this technique to make your napkin wraps unique and tailored to your theme. With all of the colour possibilities alone you have a huge creative scope, but again materials offer lots of possibility. The flower petals, for example, can be made of paper, fabric, or they can be real petals that are dried or preserved.
Look #3 – Rustic Appeal
What You’ll Need:
- Chocolate Brown and Ivory Burlap Wrap by the Roll
- Glue
- Scissors
- Miniature Natural Wood Circle Slices
- Dried seeded eucalyptus
Instructions
Step 1: Measure your burlap to see how much you’ll need, making sure you take into account the excess you’ll need when the ends are folded over. (In this tutorial, our final wrap was approximately 5 inches long, so you’ll want the burlap cutting to be just over double that.)
Step 2: Fold the burlap in half lengthways so that one edge is frayed and the other smooth and curved.
Step 3: Fold over the ends of your burlap so that each end meets—overlap them a little bit and secure together with glue. You’ll be left with something like a sleeve/ring of burlap. (Ours was approximately 5 inches long.)
Step 4: Take your mini wooden circles and drill a small hole through them.
Step 5: Take a piece of your ivory burlap and pull 3 to 4 strands from it.
Step 6: Tie the strands loosely around your burlap wrap and thread through your mini wooden circle. Secure it with a double knot and finish it with a bow.
Step 7: Tuck in some dried seed eucalyptus.
The Final Look:
Make your napkin wraps even more interesting by adding beads to the thread before you tie it around the burlap. And thread alternatives include strands of wrapped straw or vines for a rustic wedding theme, a thin chain for a vintage theme, and glittery string for an art deco theme. Also, why use glue when you can secure your burlap with interesting alternatives like Velcro, buttons, or fastenings?
More Ideas:
With these looks there are many more possibilities, but the effect you decide on will rely heavily on what you want for your wedding, such as your theme or the season it will be taking place. For example, winter is almost here and these napkin wraps will look splendid when decorated with white and silver. A stunning finishing touch would be glittering snowflakes, gems, brooches, needles or ribbons. Or a stem of holly and red berries instead of our eucalyptus. Furthermore, you don’t have to use this tutorial strictly for napkin wraps. This DIY is effective for anything from stationery embellishments, vase or candle decorations, cutlery wraps, etc.
Above, clockwise from the top-left: Vintage Snowflake Brooch | Sparkle Snowflakes in Silver | Iridescent Snowflakes | Faux Jewels by the Roll | Personalised Ribbon | Diamante Silver Wire Pack
An earlier version of this DIY appeared on our sister blog, Weddingstar.