If you’ve ever dreamed of creating a gorgeous, bohemian-meets-coastal style home without breaking the bank, you’re going to love this handmade raffia fringe photo frame. It’s the perfect mix of beachy texture, earthy charm, and an effortlessly relaxed boho vibe! And the best part? You can actually make it yourself! This DIY project proves that you don’t need fancy tools or a designer budget to create décor that looks straight out of a Serena & lily catalog.
Now, fair warning—this little beauty does take some time and patience to put together, but the end result is totally worth it. Not only is it cost effective, but the final product is a major show-stopper. So grab your raffia, queue up an audiobook, and get ready to craft a piece of wall art that brings sunshine, texture, and a splash of coastal magic into your home!
When it comes to choosing the perfect raffia for this project, the real stuff works best. Not only are they better looking than their faux counterparts, but they also give your finished frame a stronger, more luxurious texture. A package of raffia is usually under $10, making it super affordable even if your project needs a bit more material. You’ll be trimming the strands to your desired length anyway, so you get full control over how fluffy, wispy, or dramatic your final design looks.
I used this brand of raffia for my project. I choose it because it’s real raffia and it had nice structure so that it would stand up on it’s own when being hung upside down on the frame. If you use a lighter weight flimsy raffia yarn- your project will end up looking sad and saggy. The brand I reccomend works wonderfully for this project, but please keep in mind that it does require some extra manual labor on your part. The raffia comes in bundles and you will have to unroll them until you have longer pieces of raffia. They are naturally crinkled from being rolled up, so I suggest you tug on the strands in order to make them straight prior to cutting them to your desired length. Dispose of any really thin stringy pieces of raffia as they will ruin the overall look of the fringe when finished.
If your project is on the smaller side and if you’d prefer to save on time, you can also buy Raffia fringe online. Here’s a link to some fringe I found on etsy. I considered buying the raffia fringe premade for my project but once I did the math, it was going to end up costing me around $200 + shipping. However- if it’s within your budget, I would highly recommend buying the raffia fringe premade as it will save you HOURS of work!
The next thing you’ll need is some string or cord to act as the band of your garland/raffia fringe. It’s the piece that you’ll be attaching all your raffia strands onto. For my project, I ended up just crocheting some yarn in an extremely long chain to serve this purpose. I would recommend something about 1/4″-5/8″ ( 5mm-6mm) in thickness as it will help to create a nice thick looking “knot” for each raffia piece. You could use something like this or this. (Remeber to calculate how much you’ll need depending on your frames circumference, learn how in the steps below!)
Before diving into the cutting and looping, you’ll want to source the right frame—or even a mirror if you prefer a functional accent piece. Wooden frames work wonderfully because natural materials pair best with natural bases (plus, glue adheres better to wood). I suggest using a frame at least 2″ in thickness as it will give you just enough room to make two tiers of fringe. Alhtough- if you are choosing to just do one row of fringe, I would suggest a thickness of about 1″. Remember to choose something simple because the more neutral the base, the more your handmade boho magic will shine.
To make sure you have just the right amount of raffia, a tiny bit of math comes into play. Start by measuring the full inner circumference of your frame—the total distance around the inner edge. For my project- I used two big bundles of the raffia. so they means 1 bag has enough to make around 10ft of raffia garland at 11″ cuts. This should give you a good estimate of how many strands you’ll need, and it’s a great way to avoid mid-project panic when you realize your raffia roll is dwindling.
Example Math time (uh-oh): My inner frame measured at 24″x34″, therefore the total circumference of 34″+34″+24″+24″=116″. I also added an additional 5″ in length to account for the corners and any errors. So, for one row of fringe around my frame, I would need a raffia garland of 121″. To Calculate for a second row of raffia like my project shows, I would add 2″ to each side in order to account for the 1″ spacing between the rows. That measurement would turn out to be 124″ + additional 5″ totalling to 129″. My grand total of raffia fringe length for this project is = 250″ or 20’8″.
Once your materials are ready, the real fun begins: prepping your raffia strands! You’ll cut the raffia into long, even pieces and then hand-loop each strand onto your string band/cord, creating a breezy, garland-like band of texture. It’s a bit repetitive—but the end result is a gorgeous string of fluttery raffia that brings instant bohemian coastal charm. Every loop adds personality, and watching the garland grow is oddly satisfying!
Cutting the raffia: Once you’ve unraveled your bundles of raffia and straightened them out- it’s time to cut! For my frame- I chose to have my raffia measure at around 5.5″ inches onced folded onto the band/cord. You can go shorter or longer for yours, I would recommend about 3.5″ for smaller frames and somewhere within the 4″-6″ range for larger frames.
Using a ruler, take 2 of your raffia strands and measure them out to 11″. Taking your band/cord and laying it out in front of you. Take both pieces of raffia together and fold them in half over the band/cord and loop them through themselves . Pull gently to secure the raffia, your single raffia tie should have 4 “tails”. Doubling up the raffia like this will make the final garland thicker and fuller, therefore hiding the fram underneath it. Then you’ll just repeat that step about a thousand more times, lol! Don’t worry, it really does get easier and it goes by quick if you listen to a book or watch a movie!
As your garland grows, remember to slide back each hand piece of raffia so that none of the band/cord is showing. Once the garland is getting long enough, I advise to roll it into itself as it will be prone to tangling otherwise. See the pic below for reference.
Now for the grand finale: assembling your masterpiece. To make the double tiered design—leave about an inch of space between two raffia rolls to create a layered look. If you’re making a single layered classic border, you can hot glue the raffia garland directly along the inner edge of the frame, giving your picture or mirror a soft, textural halo.
You will need hot glue for this part! I used Gorilla Glue hot glue, it’s just what I had on hand but I also LOVE the strength and security of it. To make the double layered look, we will first start by glueing down the “behind” layer. Using a pencil and a ruler, simply mark around 1″- 1.5″ (depending on your prefernce of look) from the inside of the frame and all along the sides. This will act as your guideline for your glue path. Next, Simply start gluing your raffia fringe down! Be mindful to only glue on the band/cord portion of your garland as you will want the fringe to be able to flow freely. You’ll notice that the corners of the garland can look sparse once glued down. But don’t worry as you can easily fix that by just gluing down some extra strands of raffia and then cutting them to length to blend in. To finish off the first layer of fringe, simply cut the excess and then glue down the ends as seamlessly as possible!
Moving on to the “top” layer or just the single layer if you’re not making the tiered look. Taking your raffia fringe, glue as close as possible to the inner edge of the frame without the glue oozing off the side. Be very careful about using too much glue as the glue showing will make the frame look less professional. Also, remember to only glue the band/cord of the raffia and not the tails. Just like before, once you’re finished with glueing your garland all along the inner edge, trim off the excess and carfeully glue the end down to secure it.
Just to tidy things up, I reccomend go around your frame with some scissors to clean up the edges and make them more uniform. Once everything looks up to your standards, step back and admire your handiwork—your DIY raffia frame is officially ready to wow!
And there you have it—a gorgeous, budget-friendly raffia frame that brings all the bohemian coastal vibes straight into your home! Whether you made it as a weekend craft or a home decor upgrade, you now have a statement piece that’s totally unique and full of charm. If you give this DIY a try, I’d love to hear how it turned out, so be sure to leave a comment below and share your creation. And while you’re here, don’t forget to check out more of my DIY posts for even more crafty inspiration and home-decor fun!
Until next time! XOXO Hanako 🙂
