Tutorial: Birthday Banner / Birthday Bunting

I always hear the word bunting now instead of banner and perhaps I've just lived in my bubble for too long as I really didn't know what a "bunting" was, a fancy name for a banner? So I looked it up on Google. It is "flags and other colorful festive decorations". So I guess this birthday banner is a birthday bunting. Either way, these are my steps for how I made The Bubb's first birthday sign decor.

Supplies:

1 1/2 yard of EcoFelt (from JoAnn). I used many different colors but all in all including the backing it was less than a 1/2 yard. (you could easily make them with regular cotton fabric, etc.)
2 Lite-steam-a-seam 
3 Twine/Rope/ribbon/etc. I got 5 feet of this cotton tape stuff at JoAnn. I liked the look of it as opposed to a round rope type.

I know there are many ways to put these together, but this is how I made mine :)

Step 1 Print out your letter (or hand draw). I used Century Gothic size 475. I printed them on binder paper and in outline form. Now originally I cut them all out, as shown below, as I wasn't really thinking about what I was doing and was thinking felt numbers. BUT you don't need to cut them out if you are going to applique them on - which is what I am about to do :)

Step 2 Trace the letters backwards onto Lite-Steam-A-Seam or similar. This will make appliqueing much easier. This is also why you don't need to cut them out, as you can just trace them from the paper straight on. If you have a hard time seeing the letters backwards through the paper, just trace them with it held up to a window or light-box.

Step 3 Place each letter onto the felt color that you want. Peel off the extra paper so that the sticky side is now on the felt. If you are using regular fabric you'd need to place them on the wrong side of the fabric, but for felt it doesn't matter so much.

Step 4 Iron them down.

Step 5 Cut out the letters (this has always been one of my favorite steps for any applique project)

Step 6 Cut out the rectangle backings (or pennant shape backings). Mine were 6.25 x 7 inches.

Step 7 Place and center the letters onto the backings. Peel off the other paper side of the letters and now you have a sticky side again, and press them onto the backs. Then iron them down. At this point they will stick forever pretty much if you do a good job ironing.

Step 8 But I decided that I wanted to top stitch them for a more professional look.

Step 9 Place the letters onto the twine/string/ribbon/bais tape/etc. and pin down. I found the center of the 5 ft and started there and worked out, as I didn't know how much extra I wanted on each end for hanging. I placed them pretty much right up against each other - that way when they are hung in an arc, they will separate a little and won't have additional space in between them.

 

Step 10 Sew them down. I didn't wrap them around the top or anything like that, just lined them up to the top of the cotton tape and then sewed a 1/4 inch down from the top.

And you're done! I also inserted a "blank" square inbetween Happy and Birthday. Then I opted to add a cute a little party hat, made out of felt, to make it more interesting.

Right now it is hanging up in The Bubb's room but I really made this to hang at the party, but I figured he could use a little decoration in his room (since I still haven't gotten around to really decorating...at least it is painted and has felt garland :) )