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Easy Ruffled Burlap Piano Runner/Topper Tutorial

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My tired old piano is a bit of an eye-sore these days. I purchased it about a year or so ago with the hopes that I was going to have plenty of time to refinish it, and it still hasn’t been very high on the list of priorities. So, now I’ve been stuck with a bit of a dilemma trying to make it look the best it possibly can, in its current state, so that our house will sell quickly.  

 
I decided that since Christmas is coming up and I finally found the perfect nativity set (an 8+ year search is finally over), that I would see if I could figure out a way to make the piano work AND make the Nativity look prettier too…since Angel Hairscares me (mom always told us never to touch it because it’s spun glass and would cut us) and I am 99.9% not a fan of doilies. This left me a bit stumped on what to do so I came up with something that will work…and it only cost about $15 total.

The only “ingredients” were these two packages of burlap (found at Wal-Mart, the 18″x9′ one was in the Christmas section that is normally the garden area), and some same colored thread. If you can’t find them there, you can get the 18-Inch here, and the 5.5″ here.

 

The depth of the top of my piano is just under 18″, but this is an upright baby grand. If you have a standard piano you may want to try to find some that is more like 12″ wide, it all depends on what look you’re going for though.  Anyway, I chose these types of burlap so there would be a clean edge. All I did was roll it across the top of the piano, decide how long I wanted it, and cut it.

 

 Then I cleaned up the edges with some scissors.
 

 
Next was to stitch across the clean edge so that the raw edge wouldn’t unravel. Everything on this project was sewn by hand.
 
Next, I took the 5.5″x30′ roll of burlap and using this great tutorial on how to make a burlap garland, I created the ruffles. I suggest using a large needle instead of the recommended safety pin to pull your thread through. It takes a long time to do the whole 30 feet so using a needle will speed things up. When I say it takes a long time…I mean it. It’s easy, just tedious!

 
I had a hard time working with a very long thread so I would thread as far as I could, pull the thread to create the ruffles, tie it off and cut it and then start with a fresh piece of thread…I hope that makes sense.
 
 
Next was to see how far around it went and this was how much area the 30 footer made it. I decided that it would work as is, because of a large mirror that would be in front of where the gap would be. It was ready to center it better and then I sewed it on to the edge of the previously prepared 18″ strip.
 
*Notice my neat little crafting tool kit? You can get one here. I’m in love with mine! *
 
 
I’m hoping you can see beyond my tacky fall decorations to see how cute it turned out! Keep in mind this is not even close to how it’ll look styled with my nativity. That will be my very next post. It looks so much better when used for its intended purpose.
 
 

I originally wanted to find some pretty lace to go around the edge, but I think that this will do for now. Make sure to check out the nativity post, so you can see it in action!~Sarah

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