It's Craft Time - Twine and PVC Pipe Napkin Ring

Ah, the twinification of things continue. I made these handsome napkin rings out of jute twine, a 1.25" x 2.25" piece of PVC pipe (it was some sort of connector so I didn't have to cut anything), hot glue, a button frame, and a scrap of fabric. They are the same diameter as toilet paper tubes but mine are longer and thicker than other napkin rings I've seen. I wanted a beefier ring for a more modern appearance. I figure they cost about $1 each to make.

jute twine cost $2.24 a ball (will only need one)
PVC connectors were $.55 each
hot glue on hand
button cover frames on clearance down to $.25 for 3
small scrap of fabric on hand

I could have made them even cheaper if I used a toilet paper roll instead of the PVC pipe. I think I've spoken about how my china cabinet is crammed packed with linens. I was afraid the TP tube would get smushed. And these aren't hard to make, but I wasn't going to make them twice because one was squashed. It took about 15 minutes to make one. And another 15 minutes to figure out the best way to get a scrap of fabric in the glued on frame and looking nice (make a template of the frame ... ah ha!)

Directions are simple. Put a dollop of hot glue on the inside of the ring. Wrap the twine around a couple times in the glue so it sticks. I found it helpful if I had a long tail sticking outside of the tube and held it tightly so that the twine stuck into the glue without me having to touch it and burn my fingers. I then cut the tail off inside the tube when the glue cooled. Continue wrapping and wrapping, keeping the twine in neat lines and from overlapping. Push the twine together every so often so it's tightly wrapped. I also found it helpful to not have an extremely long piece of twine to wrap with. It was quicker to wrap a shorter length and glue it every so often then continue to pull through a long piece. When the tube was completely wrapped I glued down the end and left a tail again to pull the twine tight. I cut the tail off inside the tube when the glue was cool.

I then glued the small frame to the tube. I made a template of the frame and cut a small piece of fabric and put it in from the front. This way the fabric can be changed out as I like. I can even put a small paper monogram inside.

I have one down and 9 more to go. This is definitely an in front of the TV project. My only problem is that I don't really watch TV (or own a TV for that matter). So maybe it will be an in the morning sipping my coffee in my bathrobe type of project.

Oh, one last thing. Don't use hot glue on your brand new, very cute, vinyl tablecloth. Bad things happen. Why do I always use newspaper after the fact instead of before?!

What have you wrapped in twine?

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