Maia made this fabric banner to welcome a new cousin into the world. We were supposed to visit the baby this week, but because of our recent bout with the croup were advised to wait. Making this simple banner helped take the sting out of waiting.
I took a lot of photos so I'll make you a step-by-step tutorial (cause I know you're gonna want to try this with your kiddos, right?!). Besides a welcome banner for a new baby, you could do this to make holiday banners, birthday banners, garden banners, or just-for-fun banners.
Materials:
- White cotton fabric
- Pentel fabric fun pastel dye sticks
- Bias tape, extra wide double fold
- Masking tape OR freezer paper
- Pinking shears
- Triangle template (make your own at desired size out of cardstock or cardboard)
First, trace triangles onto the back side of the white fabric with chalk and your triangular template.
Cut out triangles with pinking shears (I did this part).
Tape edges of fabric down to hold fabric in place while drawing. Alternately, you can iron freezer paper onto the back to help stabilize the fabric.
Use the Pentel fabric fun pastel dye sticks to draw pictures, decorate, and write words on the fabric triangles. We love these pentel fabric crayons and have used them for many projects over the last couple of years! I haven't tried fabric markers, but they would probably work fine for this project, too. Or you could do something fun with fabric paint.
Set a piece of paper over the fabric drawings and heat set the pentel fabric crayon with an iron.
Now, get out your bias tape...
Arrange your triangles in the order you like. Insert the tops into the folded bias tape and pin in place. Make sure you have at least a foot of bias tape on either end to use for tying up your banner. Now head to your sewing machine...
Open the end of the bias tape and fold over about half an inch, then close the bias tape again.
Start sewing along the edge of the bias tape, catching the fold first to create a clean end. Make sure the smaller side of the bias tape is facing up as you sew.
Keep sewing along the edge of the bias tape and through the triangles. Repeat the fold-over action at the very end of the bias tape to create a clean finish.
Hang your banner and admire! (Or send to the recipient.)
