Burlap Banners

Now that the burlap cutlery holder tutorial is up, I thought I'd go ahead and share the tutorial for the banners/bunting I made for my sister's wedding reception.

If you do not know how to use a sewing machine, you could always try making these with hot glue.

First I used an 8.5"x11" piece of paper and scissors to make my template.  I folded the paper in half lengthwise and drew a line from the inner tip of the fold to the opposite end of the paper:

Since I'm never prepared when I start a project, I didn't have a ruler nearby so I used my level to make the line.  If you're not straight line challenged like I am, you could probably do this without a ruler.

  Then I cut along the line and lo and behold, you have a triangle for your template:

I never said it had to be a new piece of paper :)  I used one Eva had doodled on.  

Now use your template to cut your burlap.  You can either lay the template down and cut around it, or (again) if you're straight line challenged like I am, you can use a disappearing ink pen to trace your triangles:

Here are my triangles all ready to be sewed, next to the rectangles I used for the burlap holders:

Make enough triangles to spell out whatever word or phrase you'd like.  I cut 11 out because I made a 'love' banner and a 'welcome' banner.

Go to your computer and type your letters out in Word or something similar.  Choose whatever font and size you like and set it to print in 'outline' mode so you don't waste ink.  I reused the 'l' and 'e' from love:

Print your pages and cut out your letters using an x-acto knife.  If you have a silhouette, you can just have it cut them out for you:

I have a Silhouette and always forget to use it for stuff like this.  

Now decide what paint color you want to use to paint on your letters.  I chose white since it was for a wedding.

Lay your letter outline down on your burlap triangle, keeping it centered and dab on paint using a foam brush.  (Please keep in mind that you need at least half an inch on top for hanging the triangles before you start painting.)  If you don't think you can get it centered on your own, you can always measure out where you want your letter to lay using a ruler so it's precise:

Once you've got each letter painted on to its corresponding triangle, give them enough time to dry.

Now grab your twine and measure out enough of it to hold all your triangles plus a few inches on each end for hanging. 

You need to turn your triangle face down, lay the twine at the top edge and fold the edge over about half an inch so that it covers the twine:

  Then use pins to hold the fold in place:

Once you have done this with all your letters, take them to your sewing machine and sew along the edge using a straight stitch:

  Make sure you keep your twine up against the top of the fold so you don't sew into the twine.  You want to sew a pocket so the twine can move freely.

Now go hang your banner!

Here's how mine looked the day of the reception:

I used white ribbon to tie pretty bows onto each side.  

I forgot to take a picture of the welcome banner the day of the party and took this one the next day after a hard rain, so it's a little warped:

oops!  

The nice thing about these banners is they can be made for any occasion. I've seen some that say "Give Thanks,"  "Merry Christmas," "Just Married," etc...

This is a really simple, inexpensive project.  If you try this out, I hope you find my tutorial helpful.  

Now that I've finally finished sharing reception projects, I can move on to Christmas stuff, hooray!  I haven't even tackled any of the outdoor decor, but I'm almost finished with the inside. I can't wait to share everything with you.  

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