Here's an easy tutorial for an Autumn centerpiece. Now you have to imagine this on a pretty dining table and not on our craft table)))
A list of supplies that we used will follow, but please note that you can make this arrangement with many different styles of mesh, ribbons and sprays.
XB93210-15 Natural Burlap & Poly Mesh 10" x 10 yards
XB93210-19 Natural Burlap & Orange Poly Mesh 10" x 10 yards
Straight Ribbon Rail (most any fall color would do)
Assorted Fall Ribbons
X514340-49 Natural Linen Scarecrow
X314740-15 Natural Burlap
RA13136M Jacquard Weave Ribbon
RE366518 Natural Faux Jute Flex Tubing
F3502197 RAZ Cotton Boll Bush (2)
EW007540 Mixed Persimmon Berry Spray (2)
FH7705 Cotton Boll Vine Pick (2)
MTX50784 Leather & Tweed Look Poinsettia (2)
65446 Ripple Metal Pumpkin (assorted)
3502204 RAZ Posable Autumn Elf Set of 2
To start the project we took a 22" Straight Pencil Ribbon Rail. They are available in several colors. The one we used was evergreen and as you can see in the image, it had been used several times! When we do creations for tutorials, many times we take them apart and re-use items. You could use most any color for this project.
The ribbon rail was bent slightly on each end to give it a little bit of a raised shape. The large pumpkin will be placed on the center and it will weigh the rail down some.
Next we placed two ruffles of the XB93210-15 Natural Burlap & Poly Mesh. Another example of re-purposing! We took our ruffles off an older wreath that we had in the shop. But to make the ruffles, cut lengths of mesh 10" in length. This mesh is already 10" in width, so this makes great ruffles.
We use a 24" x 36" self healing Omnigrid Cutting Mat and a 45mm Omnigrid Rotary Cutter (these are available at Amazon and we have included our affiliate links.)
We went around the ribbon rail with two layers of natural ruffles.
This is what the rail looked like after those ruffles were applied. We did have a lot of strings, as all mesh ravels. The more cuts you have in it and the more handling you do, the more raveling. But it still wasn't too bad a problem.
To make a ruffle take your 10" x 10 piece with your uncut or selvage edges to the sides.
Scrunch up through the middle of the mesh with your fingers gathering the mesh and hold it pinched.
For the orange mesh, we made those pieces into curls to just give it a little different look and the orange to add some contrast.
To make curls cut your mesh again in 10" lengths using the 10" wide mesh.
Again with your uncut or selvage edges to the sides, start rolling up the mesh on the cut side and roll up into rolls that are about 1" in width at the center.
We added one curl to every other twist around the rail. To add the curls, open up the twist, lay the curl down on top of the ruffles and re-secure the twist. You could add as much or little as your like or also other colors.
Next we worked on the placement of sprays. We chose two of our largest spray, the RAZ Cotton Boll Bush and placed these at each end of the rail. We didn't secure anything in place at this point, we were just laying them in to see how they looked.
Next we added in the Persimmon Berry Pick on each end just a bit above the RAZ Cotton Boll Sprays.
The large Ripple Metal Pumpkin was placed on the center of the rail and the Leather & Tweed Look Poinsettias were placed in front and behind the pumpkin. This way the centerpiece would look the same from whatever direction it was viewed.
Since the RAZ Cotton Boll Bush had some cotton in it, we used another Cotton Boll Vine Pick and layered it in closer to the center, to just add a little more of the cotton look. Very popular in the South))
The last thing we laid in was a couple of loop bows made out of fall ribbons and jute flex tubing. A big bow was placed on each side of the pumpkin about middle way from the pumpkin and the first spray. We had to pull out the persimmon berry pick and re-position them. This is why we didn't secure anything to the ribbon rail until we had figured out what look we wanted.
Next, we removed the items and then secured each one to the ribbon rail using zip ties. The pumpkin was secured using chenille stems. I think you might be able to insert a battery tea light in the center of the candle too for a festive look, or a small pack of battery lights. The battery pack would be very easy to hide in the mesh.
Even though the pumpkin sort of squashed our ribbon rail back down, it's still not just sitting flat. With everything secured now, it will be easy to move around. The overall length was about 47" and 24" at it's widest part which was the center with the poinsettias. You could always scrunch them in a little more if you needed more room on your table.
As an extra touch, especially with the children in mind, we added this adorable set of posable Autumn Elves from RAZ. They are easy to shape and you could set them around the centerpiece any number of ways.
This centerpiece would work well for Halloween. Just add in a few Halloween ribbons and picks.....then after Halloween, just pull them out and continue on with the same centerpiece through Thanksgiving. Unless you are like us and take everything apart to make something new!
Hope you enjoyed the tutorial!
{"one"=>"Select 2 or 3 items to compare", "other"=>"{{ count }} of 3 items selected"}
