Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of cotton, woven baskets, and I’ve been loving the look. The texture, the cotton, the neutral color…all make me so happy. I started wondering if there was a way to incorporate the same look and feel into a table setting. And, that’s how I came up with these woven DIY charger plates! 😜
In all transparency, we don’t have many sets of charger plates in our home. I have one set of natural, wooden ones that I bought for a previous blog post and then kind of fell in love with.
They made the table feel classy and simple and special, without going overboard.
With this in mind, I loved the idea of creating a tutorial for DIY charger plates along the same theme. Something neutral, that would go with a lot of things, but add a cool texture to the table.
Plus, they are pretty easy to make, once you get the hang of it.
YOU’LL NEED:
- Cotton clothesline rope (200 ft makes 3-4 charger plates)
- Thread (1, or 2 colors if you would like)
- Optional: Leather scraps or twill tape ribbon. (This is for the tag at the end of the charger plate. I actually bought these luggage tags at Michaels and cut them up.)
DIRECTIONS:
01. Roll the end of the cotton rope and insert pin to hold.
02. Using a zigzag stich, stitch across (about 8-10 stitches), and then backstitch (about 8-10 stitches). Repeat to secure coil.
I did this part using the hand wheel instead of the foot petal to achieve a cleaner look. My stitch width was at 5, and stitch length was 1.5. I also started with a darker thread for the center of the charger plate to create a slightly contrasting look.
03. Reposition and repeat step two to create an X shape.
04. Zigzag stitch around the base of the coil. Be sure that the stitch is catching both the center of the coil and the new clothesline.
Note: the beginning section is the most difficult because the circle is so small. I used the hand wheel during this part. The larger the coil gets, the easier it becomes.
05. Continue until you have achieved your desired size!
I changed thread from light brown to cream, once my charger plate got to about ten inches in diameter. I liked the slightly contrasting look, but it really is whatever you like. To change thread, just backstitch once or twice and then cut threads and start with a new thread color.
Same if you run out of bobbin thread, which did happen to me once 😉.
My finished charger plate was about 13 inches in diameter.
05. To finish, backstitch, cut threads, and cut end of rope.
06. Optional: if you would like to make a tag at the end, I cut small pieces of leather and pre-pierced holes with a seam ripper (believe it or not). Then, hand sew the leather piece onto the end 😊.
While it was not too difficult, I think twill tape would look gorgeous as well and would be pretty easy to add on without having to sew it by hand. Enjoy!
