Birthday Bunting/Banner Tutorial

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A fabric birthday banner is an easy decoration that makes any birthday party feel more special. This birthday banner is easy – it took me only a few hours from start to finish, and I am thrilled with how it turned out. I think I’ll be making banners for all the major holidays! Here are step by step instructions to help you make a fabric birthday banner!

Materials and Supplies

• 1/4 yard each of 5 different prints
• 3/8 yard for bias tape (if you’re making your own) and letters
• Heat’N'Bond
• scallop pattern
• “happy birthday” letters pattern

Cut out 28 scallop pieces from your 5 pieces of coordinating fabric. (Shown in top right).

Following the Heat’N'Bond instructions, apply Heat’N'Bond to the wrong side of the fabric you will be cutting the letters from. The B&W polka dot is my “letter” fabric, and I’ve already applied the Heat’N'Bond, which explains why it’s so stiff looking.

Print off the letters pattern (or make your own pattern from any font you want. The tallest letters are just under 3″ tall. I used Bookman Old Style, font size 300). Cut out each letter with paper scissors, pin to the fabric, and cut out of the fabric.

Iron the letters onto the scallop pieces. The Heat’N'Bond will hold them there temporarily.

Edgestitch each letter permanently to the fabric.

Sew front and back scallop pieces, right sides together and leaving the straight edge open with a 1/4″ seam allowance.

Notch the curves.

Using a point presser and a mini iron, press the seam allowances open.

I started out trying to do this with a wadded up towel and regular iron, and it was taking forever. A mini iron is so much easier and faster for this small a project. (The Clover Mini Iron II is my tool of choice.) Using a mini iron cut the time this step took by more than half. Just so ya know…

Once you’ve pressed the seam allowance open with the mini iron, turn the scallop right side out and press the whole thing with a regular iron. Make sure the edges match up and you can’t see the the back fabric from the front, etc.

Edgestitch around the curved edges of the banner. I find that using my blind hem presser foot is the best method for edge stitching.

Finish the banner with bias tape.

I made my own bias tape, only I didn’t cut it on the bias. I used the 3/4″ Clover bias tape maker (best bias tape maker on the market). You’ll need about 120″ total of bias tape to cover the width of each scallop plus 20″ inches on each side for the ties.

If you’ve never used single fold bias tape, pin the edge of the bias tape to the top edge of the scallops, right sides together. Sew in the crease. Fold the rest of the bias tape over the edge, overlapping the fold in the bias tape with the line of stitching you just made by just a hair, and stitch in the ditch on the front side. You should just catch the back side of the bias tape without seeing any top stitching on the surface.

Sew from the start of the H scallop to the end of the Y. Then go back and fold in the ends and edgestitch along the sides of the ties to finish.

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All done! You can really take these basic instructions and make a banner totally your own. You can use more or fewer than 5 different prints, do triangles or squares instead of a scallop, play around with different fonts, etc. Hopefully these instructions have given you the confidence to get started. Have fun!

{photos taken with the Canon Rebel XSi}

Tagged as: birthday bunting, fabric birthday banner, fabric bunting, make a birthday banner, sewing tutorial