DIY Kraft Paper Planter Bag Tutorial

Learn how to make a durable waterproof planter bag from Kraft/Packing paper!

[Psst! Join me on Instagram to keep up with all my behind the scene shenanigans!]

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There are three things you should probably know about me.

1. I use exclamation marks way more than I should! 
2. I love IKEA to infinity and beyond
3. I move homes – quite often. Hence the endless supply of cardboard boxes, bubble wrap and packing paper (aka kraft paper) you might find in my spare room. Oh and I’m also pretty hopeless at keeping plants alive – although, my luck might be changing with that one….

Well ok…. four things then.

But coming back to the packing paper thing,  I really do have rolls of it packed away in storage. Which is super handy because I happen to really love the stuff!

Aside from it’s most obvious function (wrapping fragile items for parcel travel if you didn’t know), kraft paper is great for doodling on and for …. making planter bags! Especially water proof ones like these below!

 

You can actually purchase washable brown paper on Etsy? You know, the kind that doesn’t immediately turn to mush when you water your plants, but will cost you an arm and a leg to buy? My planter bag idea however is a much cheaper alternative. I’ll show you how, because Im good like that 😉

 

MATERIALS USED TO MAKE THESE PLANTER BAGS:

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• Brown packing paper / Kraft paper – I used a 50mm x 10m roll
• Glue or glue gun
• Contact paper (matt) – I used grey and black 1m x 300mm, but you can use any colour including clear contact paper too!  Just a note, if you’re in the UK, then this is called Sticky Back Plastic and you can source it here
• Scissors
• Tape
• Black sharpie pen (optional)
• Stencil (optional)

 

 

HOW TO MAKE A PAPER PLANTER BAG:

First you will need to cut your packing paper to your desired length and height. I wanted quite a large bag so I kept the height as it was and the width about 60cm. I used a ruler to ensure my lines were cut straight.

 

 

Next, apply the contact paper to one complete side of the packing paper.

As you can see from the image below, my application looks slightly amateurish. The roll of black contact paper I used hadn’t been long enough to cover the entire kraft paper in one go – so I had to fill in a lot of gaps. Let me reassure; It doesn’t matter if this part isn’t done perfectly because no one will see it!

 

 

Flip your paper over to the brown paper side and cut off any excess contact paper edges with your scissors

 

 

You should be left with a more durable paper that looks like this. Brown on one side and black contact paper on the other.

 

 

 

Straighten your paper and fold over the opposite ends  so they meet in the middle (with a very slight overlapping). Remember the side covered with contact paper  will become the inside of your bag so make sure only the brown side is visible at this point

 

 

Use your glue to keep the two overlapping ends together. You should end up with a rectangular shape like the image below

 

 

Fold the bottom of the sack upwards – this will become the base of your plant so it’s important to decide here just how wide you want that base to be. The longer the fold up – the wider the base.

 

 

Make a diamond shape with the bottom you have just folded over and fold it flat.

 

 

Then fold the bottom and top edges of your diamond corner into small triangle flaps.

 

 

Secure in place with tape – I also used glue here for added strength! The image below isn’t perfect I know but again…its another part no one will see.

 

 

FYI: If by this point, you’re wondering how I became such a pro at folding paper bags… I’ll be honest and say I only learnt this method a few weeks back…when I googled how to fold a paper bag…and got this image

 

 

Place your hands inside the planter bag and turn the edges over so that the inner contact paper shows (it wont tear…promise! I folded this bag about 4 times…because it ended up being quite tall.

 

 

Scrunch the bag into a ball to give it that added texture.. then straightened it out again.

 

 

And then finally – stencil , although this is totally optional.

 

 

I used this stencil that I bought of eBay along with a sharpie pen to write out the words GROW.

 

 

I made a few other bags too.. I mean once I got the hang of it they were quite easy to  make.

 

 

I’m actually glad I have endless amounts of packing paper stored in my garage. I think using this paper to make planter bags might just become a new obsession of mine (aside from collecting vintage baking tins and many other things) . It’s so much fun!

 

 

And of course… I tried and tested my bold ‘its waterproof’ statement because no point in talking the talk if you cant walk the walk right? The water from the pot drainage holes didn’t soak through the planter bag. I was even able to take the plant pots out and wipe around the inside with no problems!

Win! I feel like a Facebook Live tutorial is in order….what say you my friends?

 

 

 

 

Some of these other green thumb worthy planter posts, like:

HOW TO MAKE A BAKING TIN HERB GARDEN

 

IKEA HACK: INDUSTRIAL WALL PLANTER

 

CINDER BLOCK PLANTER

 

MILK BOTTLE HERB PLANTER

 

REPURPOSED PLANTER CONTAINERS