Home decor is in the (jute shipping) bag

By this time, the holiday ornaments are put away or are at least en route to their yearly hibernation spot. To shake off the winter and post-holiday blues, redirect your attention to adding something new to your home’s decor.

While you sip coffee and brainstorm about what you can do to spiff up your decidedly un-festive living room, look no further than your coffee beans for inspiration.

A lot of times coffee is imported in jute bags. Yes, your morning go-juice often comes from coffee beans that are shipped in large woven sacks like the ones that you used to hop inside and race around in as a kid.

The sacks are made of jute, sisal or burlap and sometimes have pertinent geographical origin information or unique motifs stamped into the textile. Sometimes the bags have minimal monotone inks and some have elaborate artwork indicating where the beans or agricultural products were harvested.

Upcycle these bags into your home’s interiors by using their woven, neutral textiles in firewood totes, cafe curtain panels, bench upholstery, accessory pillows or photo-book covers.

To illustrate how to work the bags into your home’s decor, here’s how to make them into tablecloths, runners and even slipcovers for ottomans and footstools.

Finding the right material

You can locate vintage jute sacks on the Internet (try www.coffeebags.com) or in antique shops or in craft, fabric and hobby shops.

Amazon.com and other vendors sell coffee shipping bags in lots, but it’s also easy to find them individually.

“We have carried these jute or burlap sacks in our store from time to time,” says Shelli Stone of Crazy Daisy Gardens in Argyle, which also has an Etsy shop. “It varies a bit on our finds. We always receive great feedback on them, so they don’t always stay long.”

The Online Fabric Store (www.onlinefabricstore.net) has coffee bags, but also it carries a variety of cattle feed sacks and potato bags. Some are reproduction bags.

Flour and French grain sacks also make beautiful home accessories and can be used in the same ways as jute.

I found a stash of colorful coffee bags at a feed store while on a road trip. The bags tend to be roughly 2  1/2 feet wide by 3 1/2 feet long, but they can vary.

Attractive options can be found for under $10, which makes them very affordable to use for decorating.

Using jute

Making slipcovers for ottomans and footstools is a fast way to give something small a new look. Integrating a little jute can give a room a casual feel. The hardiness of the sack material is ideal for putting your feet on, too.

If you like to sew, there are many adjustable patterns in fabric stores and video tutorials for ottoman slipcovers online. Use a zig-zag or embroidery stitch because the fabric is woven and loose, as opposed to a straight stitch.

If you want to try a no-sew option for covering an ottoman or footstool, here are some guidelines.

Materials:

▪ Jute (You will need enough jute or burlap material or jute sacks to upholster the top and sides of the ottoman, plus two inches for hemming the unfinished edges using hot glue.)

▪ Sturdy, sharp scissors

▪ Hot glue gun and glue sticks

▪ Light-duty staple gun

▪ Straight pins

▪ Measuring tape

▪ Trim (gimp, ribbon, lace, a leather woven belt or trim, thick rope or fancier trims with crystals)

▪ Tailor Fray Block or Sprayway’s No-Fray Spray (optional)

Directions:

If you are good at making perfect corners on a gift-wrapped box, this is going to be a piece of cake.

Step 1: Find a simple square or rectangular footstool or ottoman. They show up at thrift and antique stores. You want something with simple lines and, ideally, something that you can upholster without removing the old fabric, which will serve as extra padding.

Step 2: Collect jute bags or jute material. If you are using a sack, cut down the sides to open it up so that it is one large, flat piece. Cut off and save any extra trim, edging, rope or unique edges from the sack. You might have enough of the jute bag’s trim to use on this project or you can save it for gift wrap or another project.

Step 3: With the measuring tape, measure the top piece (square or rectangle) of the ottoman and factor in the part that would be upholstered to the sides. Add about 2 inches more, so that you can fold the edge under and glue it down to the edge.

Step 4: Cut the amount needed out of jute. If you are working with a pattern that you like, make sure it is centered where you want it to be on the ottoman. (Measure so that this image or lettering is centered.) Cut it out.

Step 5: Pin the piece onto the ottoman or footstool with simple straight pins in the center of the design, on the top of the piece of furniture. Eyeball it again, making sure the design is where you want it.

Step 6: Heat the glue gun and start to work with the corners of your ottoman like you are wrapping a gift, making each corner folded down as neatly as you can. Use hot glue to affix it to the furniture piece. Use a few drops of hot glue to baste the jute to the ottoman or footstool. It will be hot and can seep through, so use a scrap piece of jute to blot any overflow of hot glue so the glue dries flat. (The hot glue temporarily holds the piece in place, but staples will lock down the design.)

Step 7: Go around the hot-glued seams with light-duty upholstery staples to secure the fabric to the piece of furniture. Don’t worry about the staples or glue showing, because the trim will cover it.

Step 8: You can use simple trims or more ornate trims with jute. Anything goes. Hot glue the trim to cover the stapled edge and cut off excess.

Optional “skirt”

Some ottomans might need a longer skirt to cover dated legs or older materials. If you want to add one, before the last step, add four folded squares of jute measured to fit on all sides of the ottoman. Hem each edge using hot glue and spray edges with a no-fray spray or gel like Tailor Fray Block or Sprayway’s No-Fray Spray.

Cover the outside edge where the top meets the skirt with trim. Make sure it is wide enough to cover the staples and the seam where the top and skirt meet.

Jute served on a table

A quicker project to add some “jute cute” to your tabletop is to make a runner with unique edging or trim. To make a small tablecloth without sewing, find a jute bag large enough to cover the table. You can blend two bags, though, if necessary. You can also use jute by the yard from the fabric store.

Measure the table top and add the amount that you want the runner to hang over the edge of the table. Then, hot glue trim to cover the raw edges and prevent fraying.

You can sew or hot-glue several jute sack lengths together to make any size tablecloth or runner. Cover any seams with a flat tapelike trim in the same color of the jute to minimize transitions.

This story was originally published January 19, 2016 at 2:38 PM with the headline "Home decor is in the (jute shipping) bag."