Organza Wrapped Candle

Brides and weddings come in all sorts of styles and themes these days. Sometimes it’s all about being a fairytale princess, sometimes it’s all about the Day of the Dead. To each their own on their special day, I say!

There are a lot of ways embroidery can dress up a wedding. You can add it to garments, guest books or gifts, but there may be some ways you can use embroidery as part of your wedding celebration that you probably haven’t thought of. How about making an embroidered unity candle! There are plenty of white and sparkly unity candles out there you can buy, but what if you’re looking for a candle for an offbeat or more personalized wedding? Well, you’ll just have to make it!

To start, cut a piece of water soluble stabilizer large enough for your hoop, and give it a light coat of your spray adhesive.

Next, grab your organza. You can pick any color you like, either matching your candle, white (which tends to be the most sheer, and adds a bit of the old traditions in there...) or any other complementary color you like. It all depends on how much you want it to blend into your candle.

Cut a piece that’s not only long enough to hoop, but also long enough to wrap around your candle when you’re done. Smooth your organza on top of your stabilizer.

Hoop it up and stitch out your embroidery! I used this sweet 'Til Death Do Us Part design.

When choosing a design, keep a few things in mind. Stitching on organza with only water soluble stabilizer isn’t a super sturdy base, so some heavy designs may pucker or perforate a bit. This sugar skull design is decently heavy, and did just fine, but it will be a bit bulkier wrapping around a candle than a scribble would be. Just something to keep in mind.

Once your design is done stitching, un-hoop it and snip away as much excess stabilizer as you can.

Following your stabilizer’s recommended instructions, soak your design until all the excess stabilizer has dissolved. Pat your design dry. I have to admit, a heavy design like this on sheer organza lets the stitches have a really cool 3D effect when it’s done.

Once your design is all dry, mark out straight lines above and below your design, and snip it into a long strip suitable for wrapping around your candle. It’s up to you on how much fabric you leave above and below, but just remember, you want a little bit of candle showing!

Don’t fret too much about keeping a clean edge; that will be covered by ribbon once we put it on the candle.

Now it’s time to attach it to the candle. You could sew your organza into a little loop and slip it over the top, but personally, I want a nice snug fit to my candle, and the only way I’m getting that is with spray adhesive.

As usual, ignore the fact that I look like I’m doing this on my desk...

Give your organza a light and even coating of spray adhesive on the back. It’s important to keep this as even as possible, as you will be able to see the adhesive a bit through the organza, and we don’t want big blobs of it here and there.

Tightly wrap your organza around your candle, smoothing everything down on the surface and tugging all the edges so they’re taut and even. This is the best way to get a seamless effect. Even with my somewhat bulky skull design, I could still pull it pretty smooth to the candle. Make sure you’re wrapping the edges evenly around the candle, so they meet up nicely at the back.

Once your design is on there, rub the organza with your thumb a bit to smooth it to the candle. This will help it stay adhered and also smooth out the gunk left over by the adhesive.

Once you’ve got your edges meeting at the back, trim off the excess, leaving just enough behind to wrap it over itself at the back.

Now it’s time to grab the hot glue gun! Draw a light bead of glue down the back seam of your organza, and fold one edge over the other to secure the organza in place. I left this seam as it was since most people won’t see the back of the candle during the ceremony, but if it bothers you, you can always cover it with a piece of ribbon like we are with the edges.

A word of caution. Hot glue guns, like the name subtly suggests, are hot. Candles are made out of wax, which is melt-y. Do the math and don’t hold your glue gun in one place for too long...

To finish the look, cut two pieces of ribbon long enough to wrap around your candle and cover the raw edges of the organza.

Glue them in place with your glue gun. To keep mine from shifting, I added one dot of glue at the front, near the middle, and then glued the back in place, overlapping the edges. Repeat this for the bottom piece of ribbon.

Go ahead and add some bling! I glued a nice gothic-y heart charm to the front, just for the added effect. You can add lace, more ribbon, more charms... whatever you like!

When your candle is ready, grab your base, and if you like, dress it up a bit. I added some black lace for the candle to sit on, and threw some skull beads I had laying around the studio to the base, for that extra skull-y effect. Yes, I really had them in the studio already. What, you don’t keep a stock of morbid beads around for just such occasions?

Your unity candle is stunning, and so totally you! You can make something for that special day you’d never find in a store, made just for your occasion, in your colors, and in your style.

Light it up on your special day for a stunning effect! Plus, your union will smell like apple crisp. Mmmm, apple crisp...

No need to stick to plain, generic candles. Your celebration is personal to you and your partner! Make your symbol of that unity as special as you are.