Church Colors at Home

    About a month ago I wrote about the various ways that my husband and I have tried to bring church home, so to speak, so that when we’re at church our daughter feels like she knows what’s going on.  I mentioned having a plan to create some small banners representing the different colors of the church year… and since it always takes me five times as long to complete a project as it does to plan one, I just recently hung up the first banner (which is green, the color of ordinary time).

I’m pleased with the way it turned out, though it’s nothing particularly fancy.  In case any of you are interested in doing something similar, here are the supplies you’ll need.  I managed to get everything for about $10 at my local fabric shop.  Check the scrap bins first – I found almost all of my fabric there!

• Background fabric (2 layers each) in green, purple, red, black, and white
• Contrasting fabric to make 1 cross in gold and 4 crosses in white
• 1/4 yard of fusible interfacing
• Thin wooden dowel and a drill for making holes on the ends
• White ribbon for hanging
• A hook for hanging up the finished banners

Once you have all of your supplies, here’s what to do.  Note that the gold cross will go on the white background fabric for Easter.  All of the other backgrounds have a white cross.

1. Cut out all of the background pieces and crosses according to the size you want to make your banners.  Mine are about the same size as a standard sheet of paper, but you can obviously make them any size you like.
2. Cut the interfacing into crosses that are only slightly smaller than your fabric crosses, then iron them together according to directions (this just make the next step a bit easier).
3. Pin a cross onto one background piece of each color, then attach with a satin stitch (zigzag stitches very close together – I should have made mine closer).
4. Pin both pieces of background fabric right sides together.  Stitch around the edge, leaving a hole at the top for tuning.  Turn it right side out, iron, and top stitch all the way around for a more finished look.
5. Fold down about an inch at the top to form a pocket for the dowel to slide through, then stitch across.
6. Cut the dowel down to size and drill small holes at either end.  Slide the dowel through the pocket, loop the ribbon through the holes on the dowel, and hang!  Green is for ordinary time, purple is for Advent and Lent, red is for Passion Week and Pentecost, black is for Good Friday, and white is for Easter.

If you’re not into sewing, there are plenty of other ways you could display the colors of the church year in your home.  A few of the ideas I’ve thought of are framing colored scrapbook paper or stretching fabric across a blank canvas, but I’m sure there are dozens of other ways to do it!  What about getting a single cloth napkin in each color and placing it under your dining room table’s centerpiece or buying thick ribbons in each color to drape over a cross you already have displayed somewhere?  Do let us know if you try one of these ideas or come up with something else!

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