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
- 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.
- 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).
- 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).
- 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.
- Fold down about an inch at the top to form a pocket for the dowel to slide through, then stitch across.
- 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.
I love it! Well done!
So fun! And such a great idea. It’s easy enough that it would be a fun project to do with a child learning to sew. Wait, I have one of those…
Oh yes, it’s really very easy to do. I felt sort of silly spelling out the steps, actually, because anyone who has done any sewing could take one look at the finished product and know what to do! The hardest part for your child-learning-to-sew would be the cross applique – but you could get around that by using felt instead and just gluing it on.
Great idea, Haley! And it looks fantastic 🙂
You should sell these for the non crafty ones…
I was just telling someone the other day that you really don’t need to be able to sew to make something like this. Using nice quality wool felt (most boutique fabric stores sell rectangles in lots of colors) and fabric glue would be great, too!
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