Rustic Thanksgiving Table Setting & Tutorial

What does all of this have in common?  You guessed it!  The next project.  Are you ready?! Of course you are, right?  From this…

To this in a matter of minutes!  It’s cute, fun and super easy to do!

I love this time of year.  There is nothing better than getting together to celebrate with family and friends, eating a delicious meal and at our house, and watching some football!
This year, I wanted to really keep it simple and bring the outdoors in. I always find the greatest peace and serenity while I am outside enjoying all of God’s creations. We have had so much fun with our thankful tree that I wanted to keep the theme going. Can you tell we use a lot of burlap?  What can I say?  I grew up on a farm and burlap was a staple.

For starters, I bought some inexpensive muslin to make our napkins. There’s nothing greater to me than cloth napkins.  They are so much more absorbent and set the mood.  Okay, so maybe not, but they always put a smile on my face!  The muslin I chose was 36” wide which was perfect because I wanted to have an 18×18 square.  I cut out 2 – 18×18 inch squares.

Put right sides together and used a ¼” seam and sewed all the way around.  I left about a 4” opening, turned right side out, straightened my corners, and then top stitched all around 1/8” from the side. Easy peasy right?

For my napkin holder, I used some empty toilet paper rolls.  Originally I thought 4” would work but it didn’t so I ended up cutting down to 3.”

I had some extra ribbon laying around that needed to be put to work, so with a little dab of glue I attached it and rolled around to where the other size met, but cut more off so I could fold over to give it a nice seam.

Then I pulled out my burlap.  Here’s a great side note, if you want your burlap to be straight, you measure it out to where you want to cut it.

Mark it with a little snip…

then pull your string so it looks like this on both sides.

Then you can cut it and it will come out clean and straight with the grain.  Then you get a nice straight piece that looks like this.

My finished piece ended up being 18×20.

To keep the edges on the burlap from fraying, I used the zigzag stitch on my sewing machine.  I made the stitch as wide as it would go and closer together so it would lock it into place.

I found some pine cones outside, and being a little paranoid at what kind of creatures made their home in them, I washed them with dish soap and laid them out to dry.  Sorry, I forgot to take pictures.  It was quite a sight I must say!  I knew I wanted them to be used as the placeholders.  For the name tag, I just found an old card and tore out the side, leaving the edges raw.  I love the look don’t you?

Then all you need to do is add a cute little pumpkin and you’re set.

Oh! And here’s a sneak peak at how our Thankful tree has grown!

Sometimes we can let the holidays get crazy busy and get carried away.  That’s what I love about this tablescape.  It’s simple and easy, the way Thanksgiving was meant to be.  It took maybe ½ hour to complete and cost around $1.50…nice right?! I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving full of good food, family, and fun!