Birthday Banners

Fall is birthday season in our family, and I thought what better way to spruce up a birthday party than with a fun banner. 

Here is some of my inspiration

(you can click on the pictures to see where I found them)

I found all of these on Pinterest and the one on the right sells for $98! They are a bit time consuming to make, but the great news is you can use lots of extra pieces you have and you don't necessarily need to go buy new fabric.

Here is what I used:

1.  Piece of cardstock (to use as a pattern)

2. Fabric (Enough for 13 triangles)

3. Scissors

4. Sharpie or other utensil for marking

5. Ruler

6. Sewing machine

Step 1: Make a pattern. If you measure a rectangle and then mark the halfway point on one end of the rectangle, you can mark from the top corner to the middle of the bottom. You can make triangles as big or small as you'd like

Step 2: Trace your pattern onto your fabric and cut out your triangles. I traced and cut four pieces at a time

Step 3: Cut out the letters. I free handed it, but if you want a specific font, you can print off letters and trace them.
Step 4: Once all my letters and triangles were cut out, I arranged them how I wanted them and pinned the letters to the triangles.

Here is Patrick. My pin cushion.

Step 5: Sew the letters on. I sewed around all of the outer edges and did not sew the middle parts. Like the little triangle in the middle of the A.

Step 6: Next you will need a really long piece of fabric or ribbon that you will attach all of the triangles to. I used fabric because I had a giant white bed sheet I need to use up, but ribbon would probably be easiest. I cut a 1" wide piece of fabric and about 6' long. I folded it in half, ironed the seem and sewed the two edges together. Once the edges are sewed together you will need to flip it inside out. The easiest way I've found to do this is to attach a safety pin to one end and feed the safety pin through the fabric until you get to the other side.

Step 7: Pin each triangle to the long band and sew them on. I overlapped them slightly.

There you have it.  A birthday banner :) Ours is hanging between our living room and dining room and it makes me smile every time I see it. It's someone's birthday some where.