My friend Deb requested some Do-It-Yourself banner ideas for her darling little boy’s birthday.
Depending on how crafty you really are feeling, there are 3 basic materials to use when making a banner. Paper, fabric & felt. And if you decide not to “D.I.Y.”, then here are some great ones from some fantastic Etsy shops!
Paper
Cut paper into squares, rectangles or triangles. You can use plain cardstock or scrapbook paper. Cut out letters for your phrase and adhere to the banner. Some scrapbook places will let you die cut the letters. Otherwise, you can print the letters out on printer paper, cut them out and use them as a pattern if you don’t feel like free-handing. If you don’t want a layered look, just print the letters directly onto the paper.
Punch holes through each side of the paper or use strong tape to adhere the string to the back of the paper.
Add embellishements to make it really fun!
Felt
Felt requires a little more sewing and more difficult cutting. You have to make sure you get quality felt, or at least make sure it is thick and sturdy. Also use really sharp scissors. I would still cut out printer paper as a pattern and use that as your templates, and then get to sewing! The good thing about felt is it would last a lot longer than paper and it lends itself to a happy party when you use bright colors.
From Kate Grenier
Fabric
Fabric is the most difficult and most expensive to work with. You don’t necessarily have to sew though. Using sharp scissors or even scrapbooking scissors, you can use craft glue to bind everything together. Using ribbon, string, etc. as the connect-all, you can wrap the fabric around the string, or use a binding around the fabric. These are probably my favorite, but also the most work!
Hope this helps! I want to see your finished product!