Self Watering, Root Pruning Cloth Pot!

This cloth pot makes growing indoor plants more convenient.

• Includes wick that can be put into a water reservoir so that you don't have to water your plant so often
• Built to use air to prevent overgrown roots. If you have a Space Bucket style grow in a standard (11.75 inch rim) bucket, the cloth pot slightly smaller than the bucket so air is on the side, and the roots won't grow so much that they crowd each other
• Handles in case you need to move your plant.

There are two layers of fabric throughout for durability. This is a pretty easy sewing project and is made entirely with a basic straight stitch, but this instructable assumes you know how to machine sew (including back stitching at the beginning and end of your seams).

If you are feeling like gee, I would rather pay $20 for Ruth to sew and ship one of these to me than make one myself, put your email in this form and I'll contact you if I decide to sell them.

Huge thanks to MrSparkleBud who told me about his amazing cloth pots (including a really cool picture of his plant roots!) and inspired me to make my own.

MATERIALS

- 100% poly burlap, at least 32x15 inches (I got mine on Amazon for $6 / yard)

- 100% poly gabardine, at least 23x12 inches (my local fabric store sells this for $4 / yard)

You can substitute other kinds of fabric so long as they are 100% poly (so they don't disintegrate eventually) and the burlap substitute allows for aeration, and the gabardine substitute is absorbent (for the wick).

TOOLS

- sewing machine and accessories (pins, thread)

REFERENCES

Space Buckets community

MrSparkleBud condensing his years of experience into the most helpful Reddit comment ever

MrSparkleBud original cloth pot pictures

My grow bucket website

My grow bucket project diary

Step 1: Cut the Fabric

Using the attached SVG file as your pattern, cut your fabric. The big rectangle with the handle slits should be cut into the poly burlap, and the rest of the pattern (circles for the bottom, strips for the wick) should be cut into the gabardine.

Don't forget to cut the slits for the handles on the big rectangular piece and the slits for the wick in the round pieces.

The pattern is designed exactly as it should be cut. When you sew, sew a half inch from the edge for your seam allowance.

Step 2: Sew the Side

Take the side piece and fold it in half width-wise (so that the slits for the handles line up). Sew the bottom edge.

I sewed the short edges too in my picture but that's unecessary because we'll be sewing the side in the next step.

Step 3: Sew the Handles

Sew a rectangle around the handle slits to make sure that the handle is sturdy.

Step 4: Sew the Side Together Into a Tube

Sew the short sides together to form a tube. Now the side of your cloth pot is complete.

Step 5: Sew the Two Bottom Layers Together

Make sure the slits are aligned so that the wick will go through nicely.

Step 6: Sew the Bottom to the Side

When you pin the bottom to the side in preparation for sewing, put the first two pins across from each other. Make sure that the placement is correct, then put two pins in between, so that you have four pins. Put four pins in between your new pins so that you have 8 pins total. I find that this is the easiest way to sew the circle onto the side piece evenly.

Once you've attached the bottom to the side, you can turn it inside out to hide the seams.

Step 7: Sew the Wick

The short piece of the wick goes outside the pot. The longer piece forms a loop and goes inside the pot. This way, the wick can reach up into the soil so that the top doesn't all dry out.

Sew the wick in the place indicated in the pictures. Go back and forth so that there are 4 layers of stitches, so that it won't come undone.

Step 8: Install!

Now you can put your wick inside your cloth pot! To install your cloth pot into a bucket, make a hole big enough for the wick in the bottom, so that the wick can go through into your water reservoir underneath. I used a dremel to make my hole.

Happy growing!