Pennant Banner Tutorial

Oh, how I love those fabric banners! I pin and re-pin them on Pinterest and dream about the day I'll make one --- what's that? Roshena's shower is this week! Better get on it!

 

There are many great tutorials out there, but as I've said before, I LOVE PICTURES. So, if you're looking for some great snap shots, check out the tutorial I followed by Nicole at Simple Homemade.

Supplies:

• 1/4 yd of at least 5 fabrics. (You really could get away with even less, but the trick is that you need enough scrap fabric to make triangles that are 7" wide at the base and 9" tall.)
• Scissors OR Rotary Cutter. (Love my rotary and the self-healing mat it came with. Makes measuring and cutting a breeze.)
• 1 package Bias Tape Double Fold (3-4yds).
• Sewing Machine. (I guess you could use hot glue to bind it all, but I probably wouldn't recommend it...despite my love affair with the glue gun.)
• Coordinating Thread.
• Pins.

Prepping the Fabric:

• Fold 1/4 yard in half so that the two selvages are touching each other.
• Trim up the top and bottom with the rotary to get that crisp edge on your pennants.
• Place your fold of your fabric on the 3/4" line. Your selvages will hang out somewhere near the 24" line.
• Place your ruler at the 1" line and cut on the diagonal to the 4.5" line.
• Cut from the 4.5" line to the 8", 8" to 11.5", 11.5" to 15", 15" to 18.5", 18.5" to 22".
• After you've made your cuts, you'll have your fold and selvage edges that you can toss into the scrap pile and 5 sets of perfect pennants. Aren't you glad you folded the fabric?! In a pinch, you could use that cut from the fold side to create an 11th pennant.

Assembling the Pennant:

• Lay out your pieces to find the pattern that makes you smile widest. You can use the single pennants OR make them two sided like Nicole did in her tutorial. (I don't like the way pennants lay after being stitched together UNLESS you stitch them together inside out, then flip and iron them.....But Roshena's shower is just days away, so single layer will work just fine with the right amount of starch!)
• Pin the pieces to your bias tape.
• Sew a straight or zig zag stitch. I used a zig zag at width 4 and length 4 on my handy sewing machine. I also lined up the double fold bias tape in the center of my needle. 

Don't forget the accessories...

Framed silhouette made from scrapbook paper and a mini flag for food labeling!