How to Make a Valentine Banner

Hello, Friends!  I hope that 2015 is off to a good start for each one of you!  I have to confess, I’m sort of relieved to be “back to normal” after all the holiday hubbub.  I had loads of fun with family, ate (too much!) good food and made lots wonderful memories…but I kinda love my every day life, and I’m glad to be back to it!  So many of you contacted me right before the holidays asking me to do a tutorial for the Christmas and winter banners I shared with you, and today, I’m making good on that promise.  This is “How to Make a Valentine Banner Day.”  I have a step by step tutorial and loads of photos to share with you.  So go grab a snack and your favorite cuppa and we’ll get down to business.

Here’s a look at the finished product.  You will need the following material to make this banner:

• Really Reasonable Ribbon: 1.5″ Antique Gold Gingham
• RRR Pink Center Stitch Burlap Ribbon
• RRR Light Pink Dots Organza Ribbon
• RRR Natural Burlap String
• 2 sheets of 8 1/2″ x 11″ kraft cardstock
• Vintage Photo Distress Ink
• White burlap
• Cosmos Daisies/Pink and White
• Graphic 45 Sweet Sentiments paper and tags
• Webster’s Pages Let’s Celebrate (Sweets and Treats Cupcake paper)
• Martha Steward Pink Lotus blooms
• K & Company Valentine embellies
• Pearl Nestabling
• Rhinestone hearts
• “o” binding rings
• sewing machine

Preparing the Valentine Banner Pieces

Stitching the Valentine Banner Pieces Together

If you wish to add a layer of patterned paper to your banner, the dimensions will be 3.75″ wide by 5″ tall.  Layer all your pennants together as you see here, and trim if necessary to make all the borders even.  You want to make sure that the “V” portion of your banner lines up on all three layers.  Once I was happy with this, I just used a paper clip to hold all those layers in place.

Now it’s time to stitch the layers together.  I stitched around the inside layer using a straight stitch, and then the outer layer with a zig zag stitch.

Lay all your pennant pieces out on your work surface, and determine how much space you want between each piece.  I have about 2.5″ between each pennant.  Lay your ribbon down on the work surface and then clip your sewn pennants onto the ribbon as pictured above.  Leave a 6″ overhang of ribbon on both the left and right hand sides. Then trim the right hand edge of the ribbon so you can sew the pennants to the ribbon.

I started sewing on the left hand side of my pennant at the spot where the left hand edge of the pennant met the ribbon.  I sewed a zig zag stitch along the top edge of the ribbon, all the way down the length of the ribbon until I had sewed the top of all the pennants to the top of the ribbon.  Then I went back to the left hand side of my banner and sewed a second straight line about 1″ below the top line.  Now you are ready to decorate your Valentine Banner.

Decorating Your Valentine Banner

This really is the fun part!   I dug into the Closet of Shame and pulled out all my Valentine goodies.  I knew I wanted to add some burlap panels and some natural burlap string to add texture. I  inked the edges of my images with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and matted the main images with the second sheet of kraft cardstock.  I find this unifies a composition and helps to define the layers.

There’s not an exact science to this…I usually start by placing my main image on each pennant and then I just layer on the bits and pieces, moving them around until I ‘m happy with the result.  Then, and only then, do I start to glue things down.  If you use foam spacers between your layers, it adds a lot of depth and dimension.  I used my hot glue gun to attach the flowers and the little rosettes.

Now that you have everything glued down, cut three 6-8″ sections of the light pink dots organza and tie them onto the antique gold gingham ribbon in between each pennant.  Cut two 12″ pieces of the Light Pink stitched burlap ribbon and tie into a bow on each end of the pennant, as you see in the photos.  Slip your “o” binding rings onto the back side of these bows, between the burlap ribbon and the gingham ribbon.  Let the tails hang down as I did, or trim them if you prefer.  Now your banner is ready to hang.

I’ve added some detail photos here for you so you can sort of study the composition of each pennant in the banner.  There’s no right or wrong way to do this….just arrange everything the way you like.  You can create a really clean and simple banner using this technique or dress it up even more than I did.  It’s all according to your taste!

Well, if you’ve hung with me this long, you deserve a round of applause!  I hope I was able to answer your questions about making these banners, and I hope you’ll have loads of fun making these to decorate your own homes.  Banners add so much cheer and warmth..especially in the dead of winter!

Thanks for stopping by today!

Cheerio,

kathy