Tutorial: Felt Banner

Remember this from last year?

This is a fun way to make a banner for any occasion, this case Halloween.

I know we are getting close to Halloween, but I promise this is a quick project. This tutorial is to make a 'Boo' banner so you may need to adjust the materials if you are doing a different word. Also, I tried to make a banner earlier in the summer that had bigger circles and they were very floppy. I like the result of making slightly smaller circles, a little stiffer and they hang nicely.

Materials:

1/4 yard of black felt, or three sheets (one per letter)
1/4 yard of fabric, or three 8" squares
scraps of black fabric, or three 7" x 4"
black thread
1 yard of three different kinds of ribbon
2 1/2 yards of 6" wide tulle (the kind on the spool) or 5/8" wide or wider ric rac (this is a great length for three letters, get more if you are doing another word)
1/2 yard of fusible webbing*
print off templates for circles and letters
lint roller - This is helpful to remove anything that collects on felt. I like to roll all my felt projects when I am done and when I pull them out of storage.

ironing felt - If you need to remove wrinkles from felt spritz the felt with water and use an iron set to wool. Anything higher may melt or scorch your felt.

*There are two kinds of webbing, the lite (sewable) or ultrahold (no sew) available from Heat n' Bond. If you do not want to reinforce the webbing with stitching use the ultrahold/no sew. If you plan on zig zaging a little, like mine, then you can use the lite/sewable.


to print right click on the image, save to your computer and print

1. Cut out three circles from felt. I used a salad plate measuring about 8". You do not want your circles much bigger than 8.5". I just placed the salad plate on my felt and cut around using a rotary cutter or you can use the template.



2. Also from felt, cut three 1.5" x 4"strips.



3. Trace three circles onto the paper side of the fusible webbing. I used a soup bowl measuring about 7" or you can use the template. Cut out circles leaving 1/4" around your tracing lines.



4. Trace the letters onto the paper side of the fusible webbing. You will notice the 'B' is flipped.

5. Adhere the circles and letters to your fabrics of choice following the manufacturer's directions for your brand of fusible webbing. Cool. Cut out following your tracing lines.



6. Taking one of the 1.5" x 4"strips and a felt circle, find the top point of the felt circle. I did this buy using my cutting mat and lining it up so it was mostly centered. Then fold the strip in half. Place one half behind and one half in front. Pin in place.



7. Do this for the other circles. To get the loop in the same spot for each circle, simply line new circle on top of a circle that has a loop pinned. Fold the strip in half and place using the one below as a guide.



8. Secure the loop in place with a zig zag stitch. Backstitch. Make sure you catch the loop on both sides of the circle. Repeat for all circles.



9. Center the fabric circles on the felt circles. Fuse into place USING THE WOOL setting on your iron. Anything warmer can melt or scorch your felt and ruin your iron.



10. If you want to you can quickly zig zag around the circles, centering your stitch so half hits the fabric and half hits the felt. I start at the bottom center of the circle go around and backstitch. Repeat for all circles.

11. Center letters onto the fabric circles and fuse in place. I just eyeballed the letters.



12. Again, you can quickly zig zag to reinforce the letters. I wanted to keep the edges of the letters clean and crisp. So I just zig zagged down the middle of the letters.



13. For each letter cut three 9" pieces of ribbon. I like to heat seal my ribbon ends with a lighter. Tie the ribbons in place on the felt hanging loops. Thread the letters onto your tulle or ric rac centering the letters.




Tada!!!! Super cute, super fun!