Does a trip to your local nursery result in a car filled to the brim with new greenery to add to your growing houseplant oasis? If so, today’s tutorial will be just the project you need to add a pop of pattern to your “greenhouse”. Using 2 yards of Cypress Cotton Canvas™, follow along as Spoonflower crew member Gina shares how to stitch up a planter bag in under an hour. These make the perfect housewarming gift (just add the plant!) but after you make one, you might just want to keep it for yourself! Keep reading to see the video tutorial or jump ahead for the step-by-step instructions.

Materials – Here’s What You’ll Need 

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

    • Plant drip tray or empty pot that your plant will go into
    • Scissors
    • Pins
    • Fabric marker
    • Ruler or measuring tape
    • Calculator or calculator app (or a pencil and piece of paper if you really love math)
  • Optional: Waterproofing spray

Prep your Fabric (and do some math!)

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Starting with either piece of fabric, flip your drip tray or pot upside down and place on top of your fabric (wrong side up) in one of the corners at least 1 inch away from either edge. Trace. 

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Remove your pot or drip tray, then measure and draw a second circle 1 inch outside of your first circle. Cut out the outer circle.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

To determine the width of your plant bag body, measure the width of your fabric circle at its fullest point, then multiply by 3.14. To determine the height of the bag, measure the height of your plant or pot and add 6-12 inches, depending on how much of a cuff you want your bag to have – I added 8 inches to mine.

Here are the dimensions I used:

Width: Diameter of fabric x 3.15
Height: Height of pot + desired overlap
Example Finished Measurements: 36.11 x 16.5″

Cut a rectangle with these dimensions from the same piece of fabric as your circle.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Trace both of these pieces onto the second piece of fabric and cut out.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Assemble your Bag

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Fold one of your rectangles in half with right sides facing and short edges together. Stitch together with a ½ inch seam allowance and zigzag or serge the edges if desired.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

With right sides facing, pin the matching circle piece to the bottom edge of your rectangle all the way around. Sew in place using a ½ inch seam allowance.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Clip notches around the seam allowance to reduce bulk if you’re using an especially thick fabric. Repeat these steps with your other rectangle and circle pieces.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Flip one bag so it’s right side out and the other so it’s wrong side out. Put one bag inside of the other with the wrong side on the outside, matching the right sides of your fabric together and pinning along the top edge. Make sure your bag side seams are lined up.  Sew along the top edge, leaving a 4 inch opening for turning.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Turn everything right side out through the opening, pushing one bag inside of the other to act as the lining.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Turn the bag so that the side you want to be your lining/cuff is on the outside, then pin the opening closed and topstitch around the entire top edge to finish.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

For added stability, you can also “stitch the ditch” along the side seam to keep the two pieces together.

Stitch in the ditch is a quilting term that involves stitching in the seam lines for extra stability.

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Turn your bag right side out and fold the top edge down to create a contrasting cuff. Don’t forget to add a drip tray or remove your plant before watering your plant to keep your bag fresh and clean. If you want to protect your bag even more, you can  coat your fabric with waterproofing spray, but remember to test the spray on a scrap piece of fabric before spraying the entire bag. 

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog

Brighten up Your Houseplants with DIY Fabric Planters | Spoonflower Blog
Featured designs

If you prefer smaller plants, you can still recreate this project following our mini succulent planter tutorial featuring one of your favorite houseplant inspired designs. We’d love to see how you’re mixing and matching designs when you make your version of our new go-to gift, so be sure to snap a photo of your plants and #spoonflower to share your creations with us.