Tutorial: Cute Dollar Tree Hanging Planters!

Friends, it is officially spring in Florida and certainly will be by the 21st of March everywhere else, lol. As such, I've been seeing all the beautiful flowers and herbs available in stores just waiting for me to take them home and love them (just me?). This project actually started because my boyfriend gave me beautiful orchid for Valentine's Day and it was needing to go outside to increase its chance of survival. Orchids have always been a hard plant for me even though I live in the perfect place to grow them. I tend to water them too much, etc, and my over love is not something they can withstand. Given my history with these lovely plants, plus that the people I've seen have the most success with orchids have them hanging and leave them alone in their back yards, I decided to devise a hanging planter. Those wooden crate style ones the garden center sells are obviously good, but given my current budget I needed a more cost effective option. Enter the Dollar Tree! I found all these materials for $1 each, and with a little bit of sewing know-how I made a bunch of adorable hanging planters for less than the cost of 1 of the basket style ones. I thought others might like to make these as well, so this is a tutorial on what I did to make these cheap but cute hanging planters.

Materials:

• Coco liner
• Jute cord
• Large and Sharp Darning Needle
• Scissors

Yes, that's it. Crazy. You can technically do this with any size coco liner - mine are about 10" in diameter and they are sold for $1 at the Dollar Tree each spring. If you went with a larger coco liner, you may want to get thicker cording, which may get complicated for threading it through. So keep in mind when purchasing your materials. This tutorial will just focus on the smaller size.

Step 1: First, you'll need to cut a semi circular piece out of the side third of your coco liner. It's hard to see the semi circle in the picture because of the angle (sorry), but just know you want it to bow in. It can help to fold it into a cone shape and mark where it overlaps and then cut there. I just eye balled it and it all worked out fine.

Step 2: Roll your now cut down liner into a cone shape with just a bit overlapping along the cut edge.

Step 3: Thread a length of jute cord on your darning needle and secure it at the top of your cone with a knot inside the planter. I like to fold the tip inward so there are no open areas and then stitch it down. Don't tug the cord too roughly or it may snap (ask me how I know) and just get your stitching started. 

Step 4: Using a running stitch, stitch up the opening in whatever spacing you like. I made my stitches fairly large because I liked the simplified look, but you could make more stitches if you wish. Tie it off inside (just like you would knot after sewing on a button or something) to secure.

*This would be a great time to add any embellishment if you so choose. Wouldn't it be cute with extra embroidery?! I was in a rush, but I may do this one future iterations.

Step 5: Next you need the hanger. Take your jute while still on the spool and thread the end on your darning needle. Starting from the inside where you want the hanger to start, thread it out and then back in making a small stitch. Tie a double knot inside the planter to secure and cut off the excess. 

Determine how long you want your planter to hang - I made mine about a 2 foot drop, but it can be any length you want. Pull out the length you want, add a few inches, and cut the jute. Thread your jute on the darning needle again and repeat the knotting process directly across from the knot you made first. Repeat this process again in the area between your first knots so that your hanging weight is evenly distributed and your hanger will hang level.

Step 6: Time to make it a hanging look at the top. Hold up your hanging cords so the planter looks level and pinch about 2 inches down from the top, holding the cords all as one. Tie a separate length of jute at this point, making a double square knot that has one short end and one long end.

Now for a little basic macrame! Tuck the shorter cut end of the jute you just tied onto the other cords down and hold it with the other cords. Using the longer end you just tied on, start making half knots and slide them up to the original knot. Imagine you're at summer camp in middle school making spiral friendship bracelets. That is exactly what you are doing here. Keep making half knots and sliding them up to the previous knot until you run out of cord. Pull your last knot a little tighter than the rest and cut off the excess. If you're worried about it unraveling, you can thread the end up into the knots. I just left mine raw. It's a $2 planter, I'm not that worried about it, lol. But you end up with a cute little spiral securing your hanging loop and I just love it.

This is my initial orchid hanger. I just poured the bark that was in the original pot into the hanger around the roots of the orchid and wedged the support posts holding up the flowers into the coco liner as much as I could without piercing through. I also grabbed the large hanging hooks at the Dollar Tree - this one has a butterfly, but I got some plain hooks as well.

After my initial orchid hanger turned out so well, I decided to make a few more for some new annuals and herbs to hang in my pergola! This picture has French Lavender and white Petunias, but I also made one with a Red Velvet Echevaria, so I have 6 of these in total.

Add to the small planters some of the larger hanging baskets I had on hand, and my pergola is looking super cute and I just want to hang out in there now :)

Not a super impressive photo, lol, and I majorly need to to some neatening up and raking on the ground, but I've hung lights in there as well and I have a couch on the other end that you can't see, so it's just a fun hang out spot that now has the added touch of some cool hanging planters. And it only cost me a few bucks and an afternoon to make them all!

I hope you enjoy this tutorial, and if you make any of these planters yourself I would love to see them! Let's cute up our yards to make us more excited to be outside this spring!