Sewing Tutorial: DIY Valentine's Pennant Banner

We recently got a new arrival at the store from Riley Blake: a holiday banner panel for Valentines Day! This panel comes complete with already made pennant shapes with each triangle featuring a different print and in colors synonymous with the holiday of love. This presented the perfect opportunity for a fun and easy project to share and which results this absolutely adorable banner to hang for Valentines Day:

To make this lovely banner you will need--

Supplies:
1 panel of Riley Blake Valentines Banner
1/3 yard RJR broadcloth in color of choosing (we used navy blue)
1/2 yard Wonder Under
Quilter's Invisible Nylon Thread
Ribbon or Rick Rack (optional)

Tools:
Sewing Machine
Computer and Printer -OR- Accuquilt
Paper Scissors
Pinking Shears -OR- Cutting mat and rotary cutter with pinking blade
Pen
Iron and Ironing Board
Pins

You will first want to decide what phrase to feature on your banner and make sure there are enough pennants included in the panel (each panel comes with 18 pennants). Remember to also count spaces as using up a pennant. We chose "Be My Valentine". If you have an Accuquilt, follow your cutters directions and cut out the letters you need for your phrase. If you don't have an Accuquilt, using a computer and a word processing software like Microsoft Word, type up the letters you need to complete your phrase. Set the font on a sans-serif type like Ariel or Helvetica. You can play with the different font faces you would like to see on your banner, but just remember the more detailed and/or complicated the font face, the more difficult it will be to cut out and sew onto your banner! Set your type face to a large size; we used 220 point font size but you could still go even larger than this. Print out some test pages to see which size you would like. Once you have the font face and size selected, print out all the letters you need and cut them out.
 

Cut out your pennants from the panel with pinking shears or with a rotary cutter using a pinking blade. By using a pinking blade or pinking shears, we don't have to worry about finishing our edges while simultaneously giving us a fun yet carefree look to our banner. If you want your banner to have a more polished, finished look you can finish the edges with a narrow hem or with bias tape. Don't forget to cut out the two strips from the panel as well; these will be used to sew our pennants onto. 

You may choose any applique method you prefer to attach your letters to your pennants; we chose to use Wonder Under and top stitching. For this method, iron the Wonder Under to the back of the broadcloth following manufacturer instructions.

Trace the outline of the letters onto the back of the Wonder Under, making sure to have your letters backwards so they are ironed onto the pennants front facing. Cut out your fabric letters while keeping the Wonder Under paper backing on.

It might be helpful to do a quick layout to get a rough idea of how you want your finished banner to look. I found this was helpful for me in deciding which prints looked best with the small navy blue letters on top of them and which prints were best used as space pennants in between words. Once you are happy with your layout, applique your letters onto your pennants.

To do this with Wonder Under, be sure to follow manufacturer instructions by first carefully removing the paper backing from your letters and positioning them in the middle of the pennant. Then with a damp pressing cloth, iron the letter onto the pennant with the fusible webbing side (or the wrong side of the letter) onto the right side of the pennant. Make sure your iron is on "Wool" setting and keep pressing until the pressing cloth is dry. Quickly press over the letter without the pressing cloth for a couple seconds to ensure all moisture is gone.

Sometimes it takes a couple tries to get a letter to completely seal itself to the fabric. Make sure your cloth is damp enough to cause steam when the iron hits it. If all else fails, make sure it is at least stuck enough until you can top stitch it on. 

Once all your letters are adhered to your pennants, using a small zig zag stitch and the nylon invisible thread, top stitch around all the letters to ensure they are securely fastened to their pennant. Make sure that your zig zag stitch pierces the letter fabric on one side and the pennant fabric on the other side. 

Next, join your two strip pieces right side together on one of the short ends to make one long strip. Then fold your one long strip right sides together hotdog way (remember elementary school with that reference!) and sew with a 1/4" seam to form a long tube. Turn your tube right side out and give it a good press. Finish the edges with double fold, narrow hems. 

Finally, rearrange your pennants as you had them on your rough draft layout and pin them to the wrong side of your strip with the top of the strip aligned with the top of the pennants. Even though we combined the two strips into one long strip, I found it was still not enough to accommodate all my pennants without overlapping them. If you do not want to slightly overlap your pennants, as seen below, then use ribbon or rick rack to attach your pennants to instead and make your banner as long as you want!

Sew your pennants to your banner and voila! You have a cute and festive decoration to hang in your home or office! This line of banner panels comes in more holidays; we cannot wait until these become available so we can make more of these festive decorations for each holiday of the year! 

If you have any questions or need help, feel free to email us at info@fabriccenter.net. For more on what Fabric Center offers, visit our website at www.fabriccenter.net and keep checking back for new ideas and projects!

Salt Lake Sewing and Quilting Classes

We are in the middle of a very exciting class season. We've started our Block of the Month Class and have several more of the QuiltSmart Club classes ahead. Within the next two months we have a Tatting class, an Adult Beginning Sewing class, a Beginning Quilting Class, and a Machine Applique class taught by the very talented and nationally recognized teacher, Carmen Geddes! Take a look below for more:

Tatting I Class: 

While Tatting teacher, Maquel, may look young she is indeed very talented! She learned the antique lace art of tatting from her grandmother starting from a young age. It is refreshing to see an art that is quickly disappearing being revived by a talented young woman. Maquel says her favorite part of tatting is that you only have to learn one knot which leads to infinite creative possibilities. She proves to be a very patient and kind teacher who has gained a steady group of ladies coming back to learn more tatting tips and technique class after class.

This class is being offered Fridays starting January 24th and will meet once every other week from 11:30 am to 1:30. The class costs $40 plus the cost of supplies. There are opportunities to continue learning Tatting after this class has ended, including beading and jewelry making using tatting (as seen above), in Tatting II and Advanced Tatting classes

Beginning Adult Sewing I

If you've always wanted to learn to sew, there's never a wrong time to start learning. Join Peggy in a patient learning environment as you learn basic machine care, straight line sewing, ruffles, buttons, button holes and zippers while sewing 3 beautiful and fun pillows. This class meets once every week for four weeks and costs $40 plus the cost of supplies. Class is held on Thursdays from 6:30 pm to 8:30 starting February 6th.

Machine Applique with Carmen Geddes

This is a truly exciting class at Fabric Center; we've never had just a distinguished and nationally recognized teacher holding a class at Fabric Center! Carmen Geddes was awarded Teacher of the Year at HMQS 2013. She specializes in teaching classes at quilting shows as well as quilting retreats. To get a better idea of Carmen and her work, check out her interview with MQResource when she was named Quilter in the Spotlight.

Learn Carmen's tips and techniques for machine applique that looks as pretty and polished as needle turn hand applique by joining this class on Saturday, February 8th from 1 pm to 5 pm for only $25!

Don't delay, these classes are coming up soon. Give us a call at (801)561-8726 or come in today to sign up and sew the seeds of your creativity!

January Block of the Month

Block of the Month has started and we had two successful and full classes last week! For those of you in the class, here is a visual refresher to help you along your Star Quilt journey. Check back on this blog the week after class every month for a visual reminder if you find yourself struggling on a step or two for that month's block.

If you still have any questions or come along problems that these pictures don't answer, always feel free to contact the teacher. 

If you are interested in joining the class, there is still time! Sign up ASAP to make it easier to get caught up. The class is only $20 for the year and there are two ways to make this beautiful quilt. Come in or give us a call at (801) 561-8726. 

Last Minute Gift Ideas

We have a bunch more gift ideas for those who are scrambling on the last Christmas shopping day! We have both large, big ticket ideas as well as smaller stocking stuffer ideas. We have gifts covering a wide range of price ranges, we sure hope we have helped you find the perfect gift to give your friends and family members who have a quilting and sewing passion like us!

Lara has a great idea with the Turn It All set -- you've never so easily turned straps and loops. It is truly a life saving tool! 

Both Orva and Peggy want an Olfa cutting mat! They come in three sizes, but let's be honest, any devout quilter will always want the largest to have the optimal amount of cutting space. 

Pay close attention to Tammy's list if you are looking for gifts for a applique quilter or for those who love needlework. All her items are designed to help make hand sewing easier and enjoyable.

We hope we helped you find the right gift for those on your list with this fun series! It was a lot of fun to discover what each of the employees would love to receive for Christmas -- it was an amusing look into each of our quilting/sewing personalities. 

So our customers are informed, we will be closing early on Christmas Eve at 5 pm and will be closed Christmas Day. Stay tuned on the day after Christmas for a big announcement! Merry Christmas from everyone at Fabric Center! 

All I Want for Christmas...

We are back with our employee Wish Lists and today we have Deb and Karen. Deb's Wish List is a good idea to look at if you know someone who loves hand needlework and applique quilting; her items are designed to make needlework and applique easier and enjoyable. Karen reveals with her list how much she loves receiving fabric by the yard: this isn't that bad of an idea. With just even half a yard of a hand full of fabrics from a beautiful designer line, any sewer is bound to excitedly think of a dozen projects she/he could make with those pieces!

Don't wait too long to grab up these fantastic gift ideas, Christmas is next week with only one more shopping Saturday left! Even more important, that means only one more week to get all these items 15% off! Hope to see you soon! 

Christmas Gift Ideas

We are continuing on with our employee Christmas Wish List today, featuring Debby and Cyndi! Take a good look at Debby's Wish List: she has wonderful little items that would be perfect stocking stuffers! Cyndi isn't without some good tips too: knits are extremely popular right now as are chevron prints. Score double points with chevron jersey knit for maxi skirts, or even better considering our weather, for infinity scarves!

We sure hope this fun countdown gives you inspiration for what to gift your sewer/quilter on your list. For more ideas, stay tuned for the rest of our employees' wish lists or make a trip in to see us; you can fill out your own Christmas Wish list to pass on to your significant others so they know exactly what to get you this Christmas. Make your Christmas dollars stretch farther: shop with us for 15% off all regularly priced items until December 23rd! 

Our Christmas Wish List

As promised, we wanted to do something special to help you come up with great gift ideas for the sewer/quilter in your life (or better yet, give you ideas on what to ask Santa for) as well as get us all excited on the days leading up to Christmas. What we have come up with is Christmas Wish Lists from each of our employees featuring what they would ask Santa for from items that can be found at Fabric Center! In the next couple weeks leading up to Christmas, we will unveil a few lists each unique to the clerk who made it. This week we have Katie and Marilyn:

Keep checking back as we reveal more clerk Christmas wish lists and more gift ideas! Come on in and make your own Christmas Wish List, we have them sitting on the table next to the Christmas tree as you first walk in.

Take a stroll around the store and write down what you'd like to see under your tree Christmas morning and give it to your family and friends so they know exactly what to give you. We look forward to seeing you!