Since I’ve become a crazy plant lady, I’m always looking for planters to hold my collection. Big plants like my fiddle leaf figs (see how to propagate them here) can get heavy, so I try to put them in plastic planters…. but those don’t always have the look I want… so I’ve been trying to dress them up. I’ve hidden some planters inside baskets, and now, for my big tree, I decided to make a fabric bag to dress up the plastic pot.

What you’ll need:

• Plastic planter with drip tray
• Fabric – main, border, and liner. I used faux suede for the border and outdoor fabric for the liner, since I thought they would hold up better to moisture and splashes.
• Thread and sewing accessories

What to do:

• Measure the diameter and circumference of the top of the pot (remember c=pi x d!) Measure the height of your pot.
• For the sides of the pot, cut rectangles out of the lining fabric and the main fabric. The width should be the circumference + seam allowance. I had to join two pieces, because I used a big pot! The height should be the height of the pot. Don’t add seam allowance to the height, because you actually want these to be a bit shorter than the pot when finished, leaving room for the border.
• For the border, cut a rectangle with a width that is the circumference + seam allowance and about 8-10 inches high. The height is flexible, since you’ll be folding the top of the bag over on itself.
• Sew the three strips together as shown below. Then join the two short ends to form a tube:

• Fold the tube in half, with the right sides facing out:

• Now, For the bottom, cut two circles with the diameter of the top + seam allowance. I used the lining fabric for the inside circle and the border fabric for the outside circle.
• Sew the bottom onto the raw edge of the tube, with right sides together. Zig-zag the raw edge to keep it from fraying. This is what the inside of the bag looks like when finished:

And here is the finished bag with the pot inside. I folded over the top edge, so it stays snug around the rim of the pot.

I’m sooo glad I finally got this project done, because my poor tree was getting quite root-bound. Bad things happened, like some leaves getting scorched, because the plant in the old pot couldn’t hold much water 😦

But here it is, with lots of room to grow until next year!

P.S. Way back when I started the blog, I used a pun or play on words in the title of every post. Then, I got more boring (tired), but I’m going to give it a try again! Did you get today’s? It’s a play on the saying “grow where you’re planted”! Did I ruin it by pointing it out?? Alternate title: The Fig’s New Clothes. Too much?? I’ll go now…

“Jewels”