DIY Chiavary Chair Ruffles

Ruffles, ruffles, ruffles...I love these ruffles!

Last week I promised a D.I.Y on these cute chiavary accents I made and showcased at the MME Show. I originally made them for my own wedding about a year ago. You'd think I would have remembered how I created them, but I literally spent one full hour cutting and folding strips of fabric with no success. Well let me tell you -there was no folding involved! I'll be honest I had to do some online research to jog my memory and apparently it's all about the "layering" and no folding. So with this being said, follow me closely as I explain this 3 step process.

First thinks first -the fabric is key. I myself used a sheer wrinkle free fabric. I didn't however, check the tightness of the weave itself and so it began to fray at the edges. It's not entirely noticeable, but if your going to reuse these multiple times you're going to want to have a better fabric. In fact you can use any fabric in just about any weight.

Cut 8 squares of fabric 6 inches by 6 inches. Then, layer them one on top of the other. NO folding! Don't make the same mistake I did.

This will give you one finished chiavary ruffle. 1 yard of fabric should cover about 6 to 8 chairs.

Now that you have all 8 square on top of each other, begin cutting in a spiral like pattern as seen in the image on the right. Because you've layered fabric sheets, your essentially cutting the work load in half instead of snipping each individual square. Don't worry about the 90 degree edges. You can either round them off or leave them like I do, seen in the picture below. 

Now that you have all your pieces cut, gather the end tips and sew them together with a needle and thread. If your using your ruffles for a "side" accent then I would suggest sewing in an elastic loop. If your using them on an existing chair cover you can simply use a crystal broach. 

And voila! It's just that simple! If your still having trouble leave us a comment below and we'll be glad to help as best we can! 

Enjoy:)

Wed Luxe Wedding Show

Hi, it’s Madison!

I am a student at Algonquin College in the Event Management program and have been working as an intern with TOAST since September 2014. In this industry there are so many things that you just cannot learn in the classroom and without this internship I don’t think I would be half the planner I am growing into! It wouldn’t be an internship if I never went on the classic coffee run, but for the most part it’s been a mixture of loads of hard work and tons of fun.

I wasn’t completely sure what to expect after wedding season came to a close. I knew there was going to be work but had no idea what kind of work I should prepare myself for. Did you know that EVERYONE gets engaged over the holidays? That sure didn’t dawn on me. To coincide with that there is an explosion of wedding shows in the first couple months of the new year and I have been lucky enough to go to with Elise! A couple weekends ago we made a day trip to Toronto for the WedLuxe Wedding Show. I have never seen so much over the top gorgeousness in one place. The first thing I saw when I walked in was this woodsy lounge with draped flowers everywhere, totally my style. After hanging out there for a couple minutes I could have sworn we had immediately reached the pinnacle of this trip and were safe to go home but boy was I wrong.

As we walked around the show it only got more and more lavish. I’m talking beautiful flowers, perfectly hand painted cakes, adorable macaroons and the some of the prettiest linens I’ve ever seen! We entered one room and were greeted by ceiling height trees with cherry blossoms delicately hand placed to perfection. Not to mention the cake that was as tall as a house! On top of all of this the WedLuxe show was unique from any other bridal show I have been to because they really gave a great experience for everyone who bought a ticket. Everyone received cute little bouquet of roses from the Celestial Flower Market, a beauty bag from the Shining Star Gifting Bar, oyster sampler (which I was not brave enough to try), cocktails, access to a tea-tasting bar, savoury crepe bite not to mention the Belgem waffle station. I don’t know about you guys but if I’m given delicious food I’m probably a fan for life.

Unfortunately WedLuxe does not put on a show every weekend so it’s on to new projects; however I have yet to work on a project with TOAST that I didn’t love! We’ve been working really hard at rebranding for a long time. I was lucky enough to get a teeny tiny sneak peek at the website before the holidays but other than that I will be just as surprised as you guys when we launch it. We are doing new headshots for it this weekend; wish me luck so I don’t look like too much of a goof!

XOX Madison