Weddingbee Blog

Mr Pretzel and I went through multiple design iterations of our pew lantern clusters. After fussing with knots and different types of glue we finally hauled out the sewing machine. Lets break it down.

Supplies needed:

• three 3.5 inch paper lanterns
• Pliers
• 1 yard of ribbon
• matching thread
• needle (or sewing machine if you are lazy like I am)

Step 1: Using your pliers, bend the hooks on the lantern frame so that they form a closed circle with a vertical bar running through the center as seen in the above photo.

Step 2: Thread your ribbon through the closed circle, under the vertical bar.

Step 3: Thread the ribbon back over the top of the vertical bar. This is enough to hold the lantern in place for now.

Step 4: Repeat steps 1-3 for the second and third lantern, staggering their placement on the ribbon.

Step 5: Once you have the placement just right carefully remove the paper lanterns from their frames and sew the ribbon together with tacking stitches just above or below (depending on the ribbon placement) where the ribbon is wrapped in the frame.

Step 6: Create a loop with the ribbon ends and sew into place.

Major bonus to this project, it stores flat. Good thing too—our “wedding room” guest room is quickly filling up with wedding stuff.

Cost per cluster: $2.26

• Three 3.5 inch lanterns: 2.10 (.70 per lantern)
• 1 yard of ribbon: .16 (50 yards of this ribbon for $8)

Enjoy!