Working With Burlap (Cutting)

Burlap (a nickname for hessian cloth) is a very versatile material to work with. We used burlap for the outdoor patio curtains as a less expensive alternative to outdoor fabric. It weathers well and is quite inexpensive.

The weave of burlap is quite traditional. The threads running up and down are the "warp yarn" and the threads running left and right are the "weft yarn." (Think: Weft=West)

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To cut a straight line in burlap, the easiest way to assure a straight line is to use the weft yarn as a guide. If you've never tried it, it will change your life! It makes cutting, crafting, and sewing burlap so much easier and less messy.

Step 1: Straighten Your Cut Edge
So, as great as the person who cuts your material is, they're still at work and in a hurry. To have an accurately cut piece, you need to straighten the edge yourself.

Start by ironing any creases and wrinkles out of your material (after you wash if desired/indicated). I don't have a big fancy sewing table. I was also banished from using our dining table after I accidentally cut a hole in our tablecloth. Oops! So....I use the floor of my living room (hence the wood in the pictures you're about to see). I've never claimed to be a sewer, so no judgment on my sewing practices!

We're going to be using the weft yarn to help create our straight edge.

Here, you can see how I've pulled my weft yarn out of the weave of the fabric. I actually pulled 2-3 lines to make sure I had a good straight line. This leaves us with a fringed edge.

 Next up, snip the weft yarn down at the very end of the fabric, before it turns to head back through the fabric. I use a little fray stop or fray check to help secure the remaining weft cut.

You're left with the uneven fringe from the original cut. Now you can take some sharp shears or a rotary cutter and create your straight edge like you see below.

Step 2: Measure
Measure from your newly straightened edge and mark where you need to make your new burlap cut. I tend to add about a quarter to a half of an inch so I can go back and straighten the edge (like we did above).

Step 3: Gather Your Weft
Wherever you need to begin cutting, make a small incision so that you can grab one of the weft threads.

 *Note: above you can see how uneven the "fold" of the fabric left from the bolt is!
Begin gently pulling your weft thread, creating a ruffle in your burlap.

 Gather your burlap using this weft thread all the way to the end of the fabric.

 Then, hold the end of the weft thread in one hand and cut/pull out the weft thread. This may take a pop to break the strand, or some small scissors to cut it carefully. Here is what you're left with...

 Now, doesn't that just look like a fun line to cut? Much easier than marking and measuring by hand.
Step 4: Cut Away
Go ahead an cut! You can be as particular as you'd like to be. Like I said earlier, I tend to cut and then go back and straighten.

Hope this helps someone out!

Operation Back Yard Part 6

When living in the "city," one has a house in the middle of a lot. Also, six feet of yard on either side. Hence the name "side yard." This area is often used as a walkway. Sometimes it's used as a junkway. 

This was the case with our East side yard. It never grew grass very well because it only received sun from noon to 3, never got rain, and was hot because of the large amounts of brick and concrete around. We used it as a graveyard for all our junk we didn't want to look at and didn't have space for in the garage.

Ew.

Solution? Lava rock and lots'o'weed block.

Step 1: Clear out the junk.
We trashed a lot of stuff: wood scraps, extra trash cans, old potting soil, ugly metal fence panels, and trash. We also stored a lot of stuff where it should go: speedy weedy, gas crawfish boiler thingy, other garden tools, and pavers.


Step 2: Eliminate weed-trees and grass.
There are these lovely weed-trees that tend to grow just about anywhere out here in W.Tex. We've always cut them back but never got rid of the root. Well we dug out about three that were about 3-4" diameter.

Next, we used some fancy-shmancy grass killer to kill off all the bermuda and other weeds. This made them easier to pull out from the root just before raking.


Step 3: Rake and grade ground.
We took a rake to the tree/grass-free yard to get rid of the extra dead leaves/grass/big clumps o'dirt. Travis took a shovel and chopped up the dirt to give us some extra to work with.

Because we don't want water pooling around the foundation, we graded the dirt from West to East and North to South. Slightly higher next to the house so water would drain away. Slightly higher toward the front of the house so water would drain toward the back yard.

We could have been really picky, but because we're lazy we eyeballed it.


Step 4: Weed block the world.
We were real tired of the "landscaping fabric" method of weed-controlling. So...we decided to just kill whatever the heck was planning on growing below it. A roll of 6 mil black plastic was our weapon.

Step 5: Lava rock it.
We wen't to a few places to check out prices on lava rock. Apparently they vary way more than I thought. For our space we needed approximately 6'x30' which is about 180 sq ft.

Our local nursery sells bulk materials and was very helpful deciding how much we should estimate for. They have information on cubic feet and yard coverage by square footage and depth here.

We compared prices based on approximately 1 cubic yard [CY] (27 cubic feet [CF]).
$100 + $45 = $145.00 Local Nursery - 1 CY Bulk + Delivery
$4.99 x 27 = $134.73 Local Nursery - 1 CF Bag
$3.99 x 54 = $215.46 OrangeStore - .5 CF Bag
$3.80 x 27 = $102.60 BlueStore - 1 CF Bag

Um....OrangeStore?! What the french toast?! We even asked the cashier to double check the price. That was way unexpected. Initially, the bulk load sounded like the best idea, but with the hassle of delivery plus the extra cost and having to wait to complete the project we nixed it. We didn't check WallyWorld because they employees there are never helpful and I pretty much avoid that store if at all possible. The BlueStore ended up having the best price so we went with them.

We started with 15 bags, which got us about 2/3 finished. We made a second trip for 10 more and were able to go about 3" deep in some places.


Step 6: Reflect and Enjoy
Total cost for this side-yard makeover:
$00.00 - Clean Up
$20.00 - Black Landscaping Plastic
$102.84 - Lava Rock (Self-Delivered and Installed)
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$122.84

Also, this was a single-day project. In fact, it was a 5-hour project. Perfect for my short attention span!

Well worth it if you ask me. No more trees. No more mowing. No more spiders living in the old wood (ew). Looks nice with very little effort.

Operation Back Yard Part 5

I'm not gonna lie...I'm pretty much in love with our patio! It did need a few final touches, including some lighting and accessories.


Step 1: Lighting

Soft lighting was a must, and I just love the traditional/industrial look of clear glass bulbs. We went with these lights from TheRedStore.

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We used a total of 3 strands, and we bought two extras for replacement bulbs. They're currently powered by an extension cord that's strung to an outdoor outlet on the side of our house. Eventually our goal is to wire a more permanent set-up. 

When it decides to rain out here in W.Tex we'll also have some nice light coming from the fire pit in the yard. 

Step 2: Accessories

This is a great time of year to purchase outdoor accessories. They're all on sale/clearance! Pillows were a must for our economically-friendly furniture set. We went with four square pillows from TheOrangeStore on sale for 50% off! We used coordinating fabric for the tie backs for the curtains, also.

For my birthday this year, my coworkers bought me this mini fire pit from World Market. It fits nicely on a wrought iron plant stand we had. It works great as a mini smoker with some mesquite chips to keep the mosquitoes away (although that is the only good thing about no rain...no mosquitoes!).

Step 3: Plants

For the centerpiece on the coffee table, we created our own succulent container garden! More on how we did that to come.

We also purchased some tall, green planters that were on sale at TheOrangeStore. They coordinate perfectly with some sweet potato vine and purple fountain grass! Plus, the sweet potato vine grows like a weed and fills in and spills over the containers nicely.

Operation Back Yard Part 4

We love West Texas. We do. Great people, all the amenities you could ask for, big blue sky, and football. 

What we do not love about our beloved W.Tex is the sun and heat. Hence, the pergola. The sun sets in the West, giving us breathtaking sunsets.

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However, when entertaining in our new back yard, sun is the enemy. Direct sun = heat. Lots of heat. Sometimes up to 20* difference between sun and shade. 

Solution? Outdoor curtains!

Step 1: Plan, plan, plan.
I definitely wanted curtains on both the East and West side of the pergola (2 panels each). I also wanted some smaller panels on the South side (2 panels). So, a total of 6 panels is what I decided on.

Can I BuyIY (BuyItYourself)?
Quick answer? Nope.

Sunbrella curtains from Ballard Designs cost about $100 per 84" panel. At six panels, we're talking $600 on a good day, $650 with tax, and over $700 with fixtures. Ew. I wanted curtains but not that badly. Also, they come in a couple of shades and are one sided (there's a right and wrong side) which is not very practical for curtains if you want to stand in the yard and see them.

There are a few cheaper options, but they're still nowhere near practical for me. Pottery Barn has drapes on clearance now for $41 per panel. That would be $260 with tax and over $300 with fixtures. Half price, but still too rich for my blood.

So...DIY it is. 

Pinterest and google are great. I found some awesome inspiration pictures like these:

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There's a great tutorial over at Everyday Expressions for the above DIY outdoor curtains that gives good information, too.

I decided to go with burlap. It's a material that will weather fairly naturally. It comes in a variety of neutral colors, and those colors will hide our beloved red dirt/dust nicely. Also, it's pretty inexpensive.


Step 2: Gather your materials.
22 yards of burlap x $3.99 at HobLob - 50% off coupon = $47.51

3 Threads x 2.79 - 40% = $5.43

4 pkg X-Lg Eyelets x 9.99 - 50% = $21.63

Washers = 10.00?

Total of  $84.57

Yup, I'll take it.


Step 3: Measure a billion times, cut once.
I have a separate post talking about the methods of cutting and squaring burlap here.

The dimensions for each panel I made were slightly different because of the slope of our concrete patio. For a custom look, I measured each hem separately.

The South panels were the easiest. One panel width was 48" (stock width of burlap). So all I had to do was hem the top and bottom.

The East and West panels were a little more difficult. I patched them to create a wider panel. Each panel ended up being 72" (48" + 24"). To seam them, I sewed using a zig zag stitch with the zig on one piece and the zag on another. I'm no seamstress, so please don't judge my homely sewing!

Step 4: Get your hardware.

Instead of traditional large curtain grommets, I went with smaller "Extra Large Eyelets" which were about 1" diameter. They felt sturdier to me. Just a personal preference.

To hang the curtains on the pergola, we used your basic cup hooks just like these:

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Like I've mentioned before, W.Tex is pretty windy. To keep the curtains from blowing around, we added washers in pockets in the bottom hem.

To keep the curtains contained when they're not needed for shade, we created some basic sashes to tie up the curtains. The fabric for these was about $10 with a 40% off coupon from HobLob.

Step 5: EN-Joy!
And.....here is the finished product!

We love it!

I wouldn't take on a project this big every month, but I think if these last us a couple of years it'll be well worth it! We're not leaving them outdoors when we're not using them to try to extend their life. They  block a ton of sun (and wind) when they're up. Perfect for the W.Tex sun!

Operation Back Yard Part 3

Houston, we have furniture!

Because we would like to actually sit and enjoy our new back yard we thought we'd get some new furniture. Also, because the furniture we did have looks like this:

Taupe? Ew, no.   Plastic? Erm...no.   Adirondack/Modern Mix? No thanks.

We found our furniture at....Wally World! After looking around at pretty much every store we could think of that sold patio furniture, we were a little taken aback at the prices. I mean, DIY-family over here. $500+ for furniture? That's almost how much we spent on wood for the pergola that will last for years. 

Solution? Cheap furniture that doesn't look too cheap. Enter Mainstays Crossman furniture. A whopping $148.00. Much better. With a few outdoor pillows from the Big Orange to complete the look, we're ready to roll. 

I love it! 

Not quite as fancy as the fancy furniture, but much easier to swallow price-wise. We went with some coordinating pillows with teal, sage, chocolate, and gold. 

Operation Back Yard Part 2

Next up in Operation Back Yard was a patio. We discussed multiple options including ground-level decking, brick pavers, concrete pavers, natural stone, and concrete.

{all images found via Google Images}

After evaluating our options based on price, availability, durability, and customization we determined that concrete was our best option. It can be stained to fit any design, is durable when cured, and is easy to clean and maintain.

We contacted a co-worker of mine who does concrete work as a side-job. He gave us an estimate and talked with us at length about what the plan for our patio was.


On a side note, did you know that cement and concrete are different? Well, you probably did, but I didn't. According to all-knowing Wikipedia:

Concrete should not be confused with cement, because the term cement refers to the material used to bind the aggregate materials of concrete. Concrete is a combination of a cement and aggregate.

Now that that's settled...


Our original patio was about 4'x8' and about 8" deep with two sets of rebar and mesh. That wasn't going anywhere anytime soon, so we decided to raise the patio and pour over it.

We wanted to extend the concrete out to encompass the shaded area from the pergola and provide extra strength to the Oz Posts. Also, when it rains out here in West Texas it pours, so a sidewalk to our back fence was a must-have for rainy-day trash runs and alley access.

Our final pour dimensions were 15'x15' with a sidewalk of 3'x5' that flared at the end to accommodate our 4' gate at a depth of 4-6" with a slight slant away from the house.

West Texas has (up until the past couple of days) been in the 2nd worst drought ever. So, we opted to add a moisture barrier under the concrete. This was for two reasons: 1- Keep the dry ground from sucking all the moisture from the concrete as it cures (more on that later) and 2-Keep the concrete from absorbing moisture from the ground when it finally rains.

We also decided to add rebar, even though it's not necessary for a patio. This will add extra strength to the patio and keep it from "floating" if it cracks.

Our friend did a wonderful job on the concrete. It has a "broom" texture, which we'll tone down as we stain the concrete. 

Travis (as a scientific-minded mechanical engineer who works to figure out how things fail for a living) did some research on curing concrete. "Wet curing" seems to be the most preferred way to extend the curing process so that the ultimate strength of the material can develop. This basically means that the slower it dries, the more uniform the dried concrete, the stronger the material. 

This is actually a pretty easy (although time-consuming) process. Cheap plastic moisture block tarp ($10) + garden hose = happy engineer. You can see all the fancy testing that was done by Purdue University materials testing here that proves compression strength improves with "wet curing" here. You can find out about how to "wet cure" your concrete here and here.

And here is the final product!

Next up is furniture!