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.
Pink & Blue Felt Triangles, cut using my dear pinking shears
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!
My ABC
Afterwards, I used a craft/fabric glue to set the alphabets onto the triangles. That was the fun and easy part!
Alphabets properly glued onto the triangle
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.
Opps – Tangled!
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 First Felt Banner (Without any embellishment)
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!
Banner with tiny embellishments
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
