Category: For the Home

Difficulty level: Intermediate
Time required: 20 minutes
Age range: 12 and up

Things you’ll need:
Two doilies
Sewing machine and coordinating thread
Sewing pins
Butcher’s craft twine
Scissors

Things to do:

1. Lay one doily on top of the other, aligning the edges as best you can.
   
2. Using sewing pins, pin around the sides and bottom of the doily, leaving just enough room at the top for your planter to be inserted.
   
3. Set the stitch length on your sewing machine to 1.5. Sew around the pinned section of the doily. We sewed around the part of the doily that has continuous stitches that are close together, avoiding sections that have larger holes. This keeps the seams more stable and secure.
   
4. When you’ve finished sewing the seam, trim the thread ends. Notice that part of the doily may be folding down a bit, so don’t worry if that happens!
   
5. Cut four 46″ long strands of twine.
   
6. Turn the doily so that one of the side seams is facing you. Insert one end of a length of twine on one side of the seam near the top of the seam, through one of the doily holes. Insert the other end of that same twine strand through the other side of the seam, making the twine ends as parallel as possible.
   
7. Tie a knot to secure the twine ends.
   
8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 on the other side of the doily.
   
9. Repeat steps 6 and 7, this time knotting the twine in the top center of the doily, between the two seams.
   
10. Repeat steps 6 and 7, again knotting the twine in the top center of the doily on the opposite side. You should now have a total of four tied lengths of twine: one on each seam and one in each doily center.
    
11. Insert the plant into the doilies. If the plant seems loose inside the doilies, use a sewing pin to mark where the seam should end. Break out the sewing machine one more time and add a bit of length to tighten the fit. If the plant seems to tight, remove part of the seam to loosen the fit, then go back over the edge of the seam with the sewing machine to secure it.
    
12. Once the fit is secure, gather all the strands of twine in your hand. Balance the plant to make sure all the strands are even and that the plant is balanced. If the plant is tipping to one side or the other, adjust the twine. You can place the plant on a table to do this if you find that easier.
    
13. When you’re sure the twine is balanced correctly, tie an overhand knot to join all the strands together.
    
14. Using scissors, trim the ends of the twine neat and evenly.
    

Difficulty level: Beginner
Time required: 2 hours
Age range: 8 and up

Things you’ll need:
7″ gold craft ring
Scissors
Yarn in colors of your choice
Ruler or yardstick

Things to do:
1. Begin cutting strands of yarn to 46″ long. The number of strands you cut depends on the weight of each yarn strand, so you can cut several strands to start and cut more later as you need them.

2. Grab one strand and fold it in half. Place it under the ring with the loop inside.

3. Pull the ends of the yarn through the loop.

4. Pull to tighten the strand around the hoop.

5. Continue to add more strands around the hoop.

6. When you’re ready for a new yarn, add more strands right next to the first group of strands.

7. Work your way around the bottom of the ring.

8. As you add more strands, continue working your way around the ring until the entire ring is covered with yarn.

9. To hang the ring, pick up the ring from the top and allow the strands on the top of the ring to hang behind the ring and behind the other yarn strands.

10. Cut another strand of yarn that’s about 8-10″ long. Tie one end of the strand to the top left of the ring.

11. Tie the other end to the top right of the ring, trying to balance the tie as best you can on the top of the ring. Push the yarn strands around the ties to hide the knots. Trim the yarn ends, if you’d like, or just leave them as they are.