Felt are a wonderful creation – they are inexpensive, versatile and easy to use for all sorts of crafting activities. They also do not fray at the sides.
I have more than a few pieces of felt in my box of wonderful scraps, and I have been wondering what to do with them and (when I bought them I had plans, really!), lo & behold, the fancy birthday plastic banner at my Mom’s house felt apart. We usually hold gatherings and birthday celebrations at her house (it’s the family headquarters), so I thought that it is time to replace it with a new banner. But this time, instead of buying a plastic cartoonish banner, I decided to sew a felt banner for Mom’s house.
My inspiration came from A Handmade Tale and Rosy-Posy. They made such lovely banners, that I just must give it a try! 😀 But I have to make several adjustments as I am not as industrious, skillful nor meticulous as A Handmade Tale and Rosy-Posy.
Instead of the usual straight triangle banner, I opted to have a wavy triangle like on Rosy-Posy. My precious pinking shears helped me to achieve that effect in a breeze.
Next, I wanted the banner to have the words ‘HAPPY BIRTHDAY’ on it. I used the ABC Felt Templates which I downloaded last year from Martha Stewart’s site. Since the triangles are pink and blue, I had to firstly coordinate the colours of the felt for each alphabets. Didn’t want a pink alphabet on a pink triangle.
I don’t have any iron-on transfer paper, so I merely use my old fusible interfacing, leftover from 2006/07 quilting projects that I learnt at Epal. I traced the template onto the fusible interfacing paper and then iron it onto the felt so that I could cut the alphabets out easily. How I detest cutting!
Afterwards, I used a craft/fabric glue to set the alphabets onto the triangles. That was the fun and easy part!
Then I started stitching. Just the simple running stitches. But boy, that was the most challenging aspect of this project. I should have bought a tracing wheel – my stitches were so irregular and inconsistent! 😀 And the thread got tangled many times.
Once the alphabets have been nicely stitched (up to my very low standard) the banner was ready to be strung. Instead of strings, I used my grosgrain ribbon and used my much beloved, albeit neglected Janone sewing machine. I chose the zigzag stitch and didn’t do a neat job at it. Still, it’s wonderful to look at, don’t you think?
My girls thought other decorations would add cheers to the banner, so I sew these flowers, bugs and buttons onto the triangles. I made a note to do bigger embellishments next time – when I have the time. Got to overcome my fear of decorations!
Isn’t it easy? I managed to finish it within 2 days last week. My sister has asked me to make one for her school’s end of year ‘Farewell’ party. That means I have 5 months to do it, but minus Ramadhan’s fasting and Hari Raya Aidilfitri, actually it’s about 3 months! 😀
– Precious Crafts