Draping Tulle for Ceremony Backdrops and Aisle Decor
With an inexpensive fabric like tulle, you can create soft, romantic swags for wedding arbors, arches, and pews. The fabric is widely available at craft stores, and the process calls for only basic materials and a bit of imagination.
By Cameron Davis4 steps
Find out how to use tulle for your wedding decorations.
For wedding décor, tulle swags and arches can supply a lovely finishing element. This fabric drapes without effort over decorative wedding arbors, arches, and even the pews lining the wedding aisle, adding to the romantic feel. Since tulle is an inexpensive material stocked by most craft stores, you can buy a generous amount without spending much. It also makes sense to pick up additional fabric if you want to practice before decorating for the big day. The biggest advantage is that working with tulle demands no craft skills at all—only some creativity and a few hours of your time.
Step 1
Choose the spots where the tulle swags will hang. The placement determines how much fabric you will need. For a traditional arched wedding arbor, figure on 8 to 10 yards of tulle. For a wedding aisle, measure its length and then multiply by four. Swags are wanted on both sides of the aisle, and a substantial amount of extra fabric is necessary to allow for the swagging.
Step 2
Cut the tulle down to the width you prefer. Tulle generally comes as wide as a standard bolt of fabric, ranging from 36 inches to 54 inches. Although the tulle is bunched to form swags, an overly bulky bunch is undesirable; 36 inches of bunched tulle is likely too much. As a guideline, trim the tulle to a width somewhere between 12 inches and 24 inches.
Step 3
Cut the tulle to the length required. The length depends on how large the item being decorated is.
Step 4
Attach the tulle to the item or items you are decorating. On an arbor, fasten the swags to each end with craft wire, or simply loop the tulle through the sides of the arbor and tie a knot. If you have tulle to spare, make small tulle bows at each end to hide any craft wire. Follow the same approach for a decorative wedding arch. To make swags along wedding aisles, fix wreath holders to the sides of the pews, then drape the tulle along the aisle by hanging it from the wreath hanger. To hide the hook on the hanger, twist the tulle around it once and keep draping.
