Ever wanted to pull your hair out after cutting burlap? Especially when you realized, it’s not straight? Oh the wonderful joys of smelly burlap! I love the stuff, but it can be difficult to work with and it’s a bugger to cut. I’ll show you how to cut burlap completely straight and all you need is a pair of scissors.
How to Cut Burlap
Measure what you need and snip the burlap about 1/4″. I needed a bunch of 2″ strips for a project that I will be posting tomorrow.
Then pull one burlap strand all the way out.
This creates a straight line across the burlap.
Using your scissors, cut along your “line” to get a straight cut. (I know, the lighting is terrible)
Cutting burlap this way gives you a nice clean cut and eliminates straggly edges.
Cutting burlap this way gives you a nice clean cut and eliminates straggly edges.
More Burlap Tips
- Use a spray bottle filled with water to lightly dampen the burlap before you cut it. This helps prevent some of the dusty mess.
- Want to get out some of the wrinkles? You can iron burlap on medium-hot heat. Wrinkles still not coming out? lightly mist with water and then iron.
- Hate the smell? Spray burlap with perfume, Fabreeze, or body spray. You may need to reapply occasionally.
About Linda@CraftaholicsAnonymous
Ingenious…and so simple…love it
I made a treeskirt from burlap and promised I would never attempt a burlap project again, it was so frustrating… but n.o.w. you have given me just the tip to make me braver, snicker!
Thank you so much for all the wonderful tips!!! I love burlap but have hated working with it. Being covered with brown fuzzies afterwards was definately a negative, but I'll bet spraying it down will help with that.
Great tips.
I'm off to Febreeze some burlap! :)
~Amy
I have done this before – it works great!
great tips :D
Great tips Thank you!
I hope my husband never does an intervention on me ;-) Very cute blog, I can relate to the craft obsession! Good Luck with SYTYC. I am also on there and excited to see who goes through to the next round!
Kristin
peapodcreations.blogspot.com
Linda you are so clever!!!
Love your blog! I visited because I'm also one of the gals who's auditioning for So You Think You're Crafty. Looks like I have some tough competition here! ;-) Good luck to you!
GREAT tips!!!! :) I especially love the one about pulling the strand out…that will save me some time. :)
I'm hosting Decorating Dilemmas again tomorrow night and Wed. Stop by if you can. :)
Good luck in the sytyc competition! It's going to be alot of fun…Keeping my fingesr crossed I make it! It would be so fun to compete against you!!!
can i tell you how many projects i have done with burlap lately (and who hasnt!?) and i never thought of this! thanks!
I bought some burlap at Walmart and the lady cutting it showed me how to cut it straight using the same method. Thanks for the tip on how to remove the smell.
Brilliant! Thanks for the great tip.
~Keri
Oh, thank you so much for posting this! I just discovered my love of Burlap, but it drives me crazy when I try to use it!
Linda, these are great tips! I was inspired by your post and just made a pillow out of old christmas tree needles… it smells wonderful! Thanks for your inspiration! http://createstudio.blogspot.com/2010/01/repurposed-christmas-tree.html
-Sarah from Create Studio
http://www.createstudio.blogspot.com
Thank you for this tip! We're doing burlap table runners for our wedding and this is good to know :)
love it! thanks for the tips.
I'm so glad I found your blog!! Thank you for the great tips. I'm going to have to follow you so that I can catch up on all you have here & not miss anything in the future.
I will also put your button on my blog so that my readers can benefit from your ideas too!
Thank you,
Tammy
http://www.PinkSparkleAndLace.blogspot.com
That is brilliant!! <3
Thank you so much! I was going crazy last night and your tips make such perfect (and simple) sense!
Awesome! So glad they helped! Thanks for stopping by Jen!
happy crafting,
Linda
What a great idea! Gonna give it a go myself.
Its a great trick! I use it all the time. Thanks for stopping by, Tricia!
happy crafting,
Linda
THANK YOU for the tips!!! I have had about enough of burlap today…until I read this! Hoping the rest of my project goes a little better than the first part! :) You are so talented and creative! Love your site!
Seriously simple, but brilliant. Wish I knew that last week when I made bunting with burlap! :)
thanks, Meredith! i’m glad you stopped by.
happy crafting,
linda
This was great!! I used this method to cut 20 yards of fabric to make long banquet style table runners. This method is great for keeping your cuts straight and keeping your burlap from fraying.
What should my sewing machine tension be set at for sewing burlap?
Hi Natalie,
Regular tension works just fine to sew burlap.
happy crafting,
Linda
Love these tips! Thanks so much! I’ve been struggling with some burlap! :-D
AWesome! Glad they helped! Thanks for stopping by, Kelly.
happy crafting,
Linda
Nice, thanks so much for the tip!
Thanks, Jamie! I’m so glad you stopped by and said hi!
happy crafting,
Linda
Thank you for making this so simple! I can now work with my burlap! :)
Jess
I found this post when I googled “cutting burlap” and thank the lord I did – such a simple trick but wowsers this will make life soooo much easier – thanks x
((hugs)) Suzie xoxo
This is a very handy trick! I’m so glad it helped you! Thanks for stopping by, Suzie! I hope you’ll stop by again soon!
happy crafting,
Linda