Coffee Sack Holder

Edited to add:  Linking my entire DIY Wedding Series to Beth's Home Stories A-Z Favorite Post of the Year Link Party.  Scroll to bottom of post for the entire list.

This is my absolute  favorite-ist wedding project!  It was Healthy Chick's, too!  It is a coffee-bean-sack gift card holder.  Just because we used it for gift cards, doesn't mean you creative ladies can't use it for a utensil or plant holder, or whatever you can dream up!  Doesn't it fit in perfectly with the coffee-themed wedding?  I got inspiration (again) from my friend Sonya and her daughter Courtney.  I asked Sonya what they were using and she replied an old birdcage.  Her daughter Courtney suggested we use an old coffee can (she's the vintage bride, remember?).  I thought that was a great idea, but I was going to make a simulated coffee can.  I HAD a PLAN.  I was going to look for a shimmery copper-colored fabric at JoAnns and cover a couple of stacked hat boxes and make it look like a faux can.  As I was toodling around JoAnns I was looking at the burlap and thinking about using the chocolate brown since it fit with our color scheme.  As I stood looking at it, I was thinking--this burlap sure doesn't look like it belongs on a can--then, Bing!  (Or, maybe it was angels singing.  I can't remember, now.)  It looks like a sack!  This idea was born.

I used a basic stencil that I had purchased for a different project.  First I was testing out what color letters I wanted.  I was going to stencil on "French Roast," but after Googling lots, lots of coffee sack images, I customized my own.

I didn't make any strict measurements, just kind of "eye-balled" everything.  (You can see that Organic and Coffee are not really centered with each other.  Those skinny letters threw me off.)  The straight pins are the area I wanted the design centered in.  I chose "Guatemala" because it fit well with the space I had.  I knew I also wanted numbers, so I guessed that this might fit about 10 lbs. of beans.  The painters tape in this photo was what I used to line the letters up on.

The bag was sewn like a pillowcase, but I did French seam the sides, so there wouldn't be a bunch of burlap strings popping off.  The top was the selvage that I rolled over.  Rolling helped stabilize the top cuff and hold it open.  Here is a good French seam tutorial.

The inside is made with two 9" hat boxes, one of which I cut the bottom out leaving a small lip to hot glue it on top of the other.  I used coordinating ribbon and hot glued Dollar Store roses, completely removed from their stems, to embellish it.  Although you really can't tell in the finished photo, there are a few green ribbon loops running through the roses, too.

The opening is pretty straight-forward.  I cut a slit in the top, I was going to tuck the burlap into the slit to avoid that string you see there, but the burlap was too thick to fuss with it.  The burlap was glued onto the lid and down the edges.  If you are going to make one of these, you may want to consider using three hatboxes, or larger ones.  Our cards got ever-so-slightly stuck and we had to shake them in.  No biggie, but I thought I'd let you know.

There you go.  One of a kind, original coffee-bean-sack gift card holder.  It was perfect, just perfect, for our wedding.  I'd rate this 3 out of 3 on a Big Puffy ♥ Scale!  This would look adorable in regular burlap, too, if that fit with the mood of the wedding.

Day 4:  Favors and Framing

Day 3:  Programs and Placecards

Day 2:  Table Numbers and Holders

Day 1:  Birdseed Tossing Cones

Speaking of coffee, don't forget my yummilicious Giveaway, going on now!  Click on photo.








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