Friday 14 September 2012

Pennant Banner Tutorial

Today, I have a little tutorial for you all, inspired by The Counterfeit Kit Challenge, where I'm this month's Guest Designer. September's Counterfeit Inspiration Kit contained some of Maya Road's Canvas Pennants. They're a little bit too big for my style, so I created my own, much dinkier version using the Bannerific Stamp Set by Lawn Fawn. I can highly recommend purchasing this little lovely. It really is one of my favourite sets because each of the elements is adorable - perfect for cards and scrapbook layouts; and most especially for counterfeiting your own embellishments.


Your first step is to gather up some scraps in a colour combination which will suit your finished project and I chose colours that would compliment September's Counterfeit Kit. I then stamped directly onto my little pieces of patterned paper scraps - sometimes managing to fit on all five of the little pennants, sometimes only one or two. It's doesn't really matter, because you'll be cutting them out individually, so use up as many of those small scraps as possible!

Cut out all of your stamped pennant images and arrange them roughly into the order you'd like them to appear in your banner. Now it's time for some machine stitching. (If you're not a confident stitcher, try working your way through my recent series of tutorials Stitching On Paper.)


Start by setting your sewing machine to straight stitch and adjust the speed to it's slowest setting. Now place your first pennant piece under the presser foot, with the needle in place just above the outside edge of the pennant. Sew three or four stitches - aim to leave a little bit of space between your last stitch and the edge of pennant.


Ensure that you leave the needle in the 'down' position - then lift the presser foot and slide the next pennant into place, so that the edges of your pennants are close but not overlapping.


When the pennant is in place, drop the presser foot and continue stitching. Repeat until you have completed your banner - stitching to the very edge of the last pennant piece. Now remove the banner from your sewing machine, pulling on both working threads.


Knot the working threads at each end of your banner - this will stop the pennant pieces moving around - and use a needle or paper piercer to ensure that the knot is tight up against each end. Now display your banner proudly on your cards and layouts!

17 comments:

  1. very well explained and looks so good too x

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  2. This is so sweet. Thank you for sharing.

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  3. Looks fab Clair, I shall definitely be trying this out.

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  4. Love this, my dear! Great way to use up scraps :)

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  5. Great photo tutorial///easy to follow along for fried brains like mine, today!!!
    Banner looks great.

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  6. Great reminders about the needle positions & such. Takes all the mystery out of it - that's a good thing!

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  7. Love it Clair.. S x

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  8. I'll add this to my growing list of banner techniques. Thanks for sharing.

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  9. what a great tutorial for such a cute banner! adorb!

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  10. Beautiful banner!!! Love the stitching. You're slowly wearing me down....might have to attempt the machine stitching....someday. LOL!

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  11. This rocks! I love you used black for stamping because they really stand out! Beautiful. I pinned it! :) xoxo

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  12. So cute - that reminds me I have a pennant stamp set around here somewhere. Thanks for the great how-to post.

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  13. What a great banner! I'll have to try this!

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