Fabric Banner - Tutorial

After completing my sons birthday quilt, I had a lot of scraps left.  I have been seeing fabric banners in catalogs, magazines and other blogs and decided to give it a try.  It used up lots of scraps and I got to try my hand at applique for the first time ever (a technique I have been wanting to try and master).  An added bonus is that "Sew, Mama, Sew", a blog I like to read, is focusing all of their blogs this month on scraps so, this tutorial will be eligible for submission to them!  For my faithful blog readers who aren't avid sewers or even beginners (like myself) I'll start with a picture of the completed project and another of the very excited (and goofy) birthday boy!  Honestly though, anyone could make this and if Sam were a little older I would have had him help me!

And now on to my first ever tutorial!

Materials Needed

* A 5x5in fabric square for each character.  I used 14 for "Happy Birthday".

* Fabric for letters.  I would guess that I used less than 1/4 yard.

* Heat and Bond Iron-on Adhesive (see picture below).  You will need the same amount that you use for your letters.

* Bias tape or a long strip of fabric folded in half.  I used left over binding from my sons Birthday quilt.

* General sewing notions

Time from start to finish: about 2 1/2 hours (that was with a 3 year old "helping").

Part One: Making the letters

Following manufactures directions, iron adhesive to WRONG side of your letter fabric.  I ironed on an old towel and I'm glad I did because some of the adhesive ended up on there.

Draw your letters on to the RIGHT side of the fabric.  (I traced the letters off of a paper birthday banner we have from the dollar store.  You could do them freehand, print them from the computer, stencil, etc.)  I went ahead and just used a sharpie marker but if you want to be neater you can use a fabric pencil.

Next, cut out all the letters.

Hooray you have made your letters!

Part Two: Putting the letters on to the squares.

Gather your newly made letters and enough fabric squares for the letters and spaces between words.  Make sure that the squares are wrinkle free.

Peel the backing off of the letter exposing the adhesive.  (Sam, the birthday boy, enjoyed coloring on the peeled off backing and I was thankful to have him keep busy!)  Place letter on to a fabric square and iron (according to manufactures directions).  I chose to turn the squares 45 degrees.

 

Next, I zig-zag stitched around each letter and square.  I moved quickly not focusing on complete accuracy to give the banner a homemade feel.

Part Three: Turning your letter squares in to a banner!

After all the squares are complete, pin them to the bias tape.  The top corner of the square will be in between the two layers of the fabric strip.

Sew along the length of the fabric strip so that it catches the top corner of the squares.  I also sewed down the other sides of the fabric strip.

Hang (I just used a few thumb tacks) and enjoy celebrating your special occasion!

The possibilities of a fabric banner are endless.  Letters could be replaced with shapes of any sort (I'm eyeballing my cookie cutters for ideas!) and squares could be circles, hearts, butterflies, anything!  When I was sewing around the letter "A" I thought about how cute a alphabet hanging would be.  I also think that these would make a great hostess gift for any occasion.

Please let me know what you think of my first tutorial and don't forget to check out Sew, Mama, Sew's Scrapbuster Month!