Whether you’re decorating for an upcoming Hawaiian Luau party or getting ready for Halloween, making your own Hawaiian grass hula skirt or cabana/table skirting is a cinch!
How to Make a DIY Grass Hula Skirt
While you might be able to find hula skirts during the summer months at your local dollar store, oftentimes they are chintzy and a little too sheer.
You’ll Need:
Raffia Ribbon
Jute (Rope)
First, a note about the materials… Raffia ribbon can be found in Spools at arts/craft stores, as well as online. If you don’t plan on making a bunch of skirts or skirting and only need 1, you can purchase a small package of raffia for around $1.
You can make natural colored skirting using oatmeal raffia or you can alternate various colors for a little flair!
For a Skirt
Wrap the Heavy Jute String around the waist of the person who will be wearing it, now add 4″ to that total length to account for the knots you’ll be adding, as well as room for tying it on.
If you’re making skirting for a table or “cabana”, simply measure the item’s length, then cut your jute accordingly. These make great decorations for a Tiki Bar, adding to the tops of “shade tents” to add a “Cabana” feel to your party, etc.
Tips
The rope/string we are using is called “Jute”. If you’re at Walmart, it will be located in the households department beside the duct tape. If you go to the crafts department, you’ll end up purchasing “Hemp” which will cost you double.
The Raffia ribbon we are using we purchased online at Amazon, because it was only $12 for a 100 Yard Spool which = 300 feet. If you’re buying it a big box store, such as Walmart- once again, avoid the craft aisle and head straight for the floral/ dried flowers/arrangement aisle. You’ll find the same product a bit cheaper than the ones bagged for Crafts. Raffia can often be found at dollar stores as well.
For Full-Length Skirt
Cut the Raffia into 4′ lengths, fold it in half, making a small loop underneath the Jute rope.
Fold the loop over the jute, like so:
Bring the Raffia Strands up through the loop, like so:
Pull the Raffia Tight to make a “knot”. Repeat until you have created the length of skirt you need.
You can choose to use all the same color, as in the example above, or you can alternate colors like this:
You might find that your raffia is rather frazzled looking in appearance from being folded. No worries, simply run your skirt under cold water, shape gently with your hands, blot dry with a hand towel and then hang it to dry. If you don’t want it Perfectly straight, use the above method and then gently “scrunch” the raffia (like you would for long hair!) for a little texture.
When making table skirting, the frazzled look helps hide the table a bit better.
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fantastic!!! we are always wanting to use these, its nice to know how to make them thanks!
great idea. i like your advice on exactly what and where to purchase. it seems that whenever somthing is labeled “crafts” $$$$ are added.
thank you.
i think i’m going to try this to decorate our club for hawaiian night. thanks.
wow what a great myo thank you.
this is perfect. i’m going to a birthday party in july and this is the required dress. should be fun.
We made probably 24 of these for a family reunion Hawaiian Luau. The boys were doing Cub Scouts and learning this knot. To make it easier for me, I placed 2 kitchen chairs in front of the sofa and did an easy knot to attach the cording between the 2 chairs.
I sat in the middle and made the same knot over and over. One skirt for an adult would take less than 30 minutes to complete. They turned out amazingly good!
Inexpensive as well as stylish was my theme. I also made silk flower leis on white dental floss. At one point, I started running out of the silk flowers and would cut a plastic straw into 1/2 inch pieces to act as spacers between the flowers.
It showed off the flowers much better with these added spacers. Made wristlets and anklets the same way only with elastic thread to fit all sizes for the ladies and girls. What fun!
I went to Hobby Lobby and paid less than $10 on these items. 🙂 thank you for the deal and the pictures.
I love your idea to use alternating colors of rafia for our hula skirt to add some unique flair to it. I’m helping to plan the bachelorette party for one of my friends next month, and I think it’d be really fun to make a hula skirt to wear to the the tiki bar. I’m glad I read your article because you provided some great ideas I can use to make the skirt more eye-catching!
I am making a hula skirt for each child in my entire class to use it during music and movements. I am using a thin natural rope and raffia.
That sounds like such a fun class activity! Thin natural rope should work, but test a finished one first to make sure the knots don’t slide when the children move. Cut the raffia into 4-foot pieces, which gives roughly 2-foot strands when folded. Add about 4 inches to each child’s waist measurement for tying room, and supervise use so the skirts stay around the waist, not near faces or necks.