Whelp, growing season completely passed me by between a wedding, move, new job, and honeymoon (in that order.) This plant wrap was a part of ‘The Dirt‘ series last year but I never liked how the photos turned out. A year of testing later, I can happily say that I have no more naked plants and absolutely love making these no sew plant wraps.
Did you know the best time to repot is during the dormant season instead of active growing? Plant wraps are perfect for those new nursery buys that don’t need to be repotted yet.
These plant wraps help disguise plastic pots until your babies are ready for new homes or if you have a large plant and can’t find the perfect pot yet. I made a larger version for our 10 gallon rubber tree so I can wait to find the perfect pot!
You’ll Need
canvas or some kind of thick, heavy duty fabric
paint
iron
glue
clothespin
Measure out a piece of canvas long enough to wrap around your pot’s diameter and height plus ~1″ on the length and plus ~2″ on the height. Using a hem roll like from the pot wrapping technique, roll the top edge inward once if you want a clean seam or outward twice to get the rolled hem look. Iron down.
Repeat on the length ends so when you overlap the ends you have a neat edge. Honesty time- here you can either glue your hems down or not. I’ve used hot glue to keep the canvas from fraying and the end of the hems down, but I’ve also just let some be. Once ironed the plant wraps pretty much stay in place. And because there’s no bottom to the wrap, you don’t have to remove them when watering!
Once you have the piece ironed you’re ready to paint! Acrylics work great on canvas. Let dry and clip in place with a clothespin.
Testing note: Using a clothespin has worked great on my small, 3″ pots to my 10 gallon pots. I can shape it from taut and smooth, to slouchy and baggy. A heavy fabric like canvas really holds it shape once ironed. Just iron the non-painted side before wrapping to shape as you like.
I also researched no sew velcro option, but everything out there said none measured up. And the clip works so nicely! I mentioned before but I really haven’t found a need to remove the plant wraps. The folded bottom hem gives the illusion of a complete bag but stays far enough away from the drainage holes that they don’t get wet.
Gah, I just love these. Even left unpainted they’re cute. Now that I know I don’t need a new pot for each plant, I’m a free woman to buy as many plants as I want! Muahahaha!
Kathy H Smith says
Your photos don’t show drainage saucers under your pots. Do you use them or not? I always use saucers to protect furniture and carpet just in case I over water a bit. What is your watering method? I really like the canvas wraps! Great idea!
Catherine says
Hi Kathy! For my plants that need daily watering I use saucers and get them in the same diameter as the top of the pot so the canvas wrap covers the saucer as well. (The watermelon plant in the pics actually has a hidden saucer because I watered that morning :))
For plants that just need a weekly/every other week watering I have a ‘bath day’ where I move them all to the tub or sink and water them and let them drain there before moving them back 🙂
Kathy says
Thank you, Catherine. That is so cool that the saucers are also hidden by the canvas wraps! I never thought about having them be the same diameter as the top of the pot.