The Cyclist's Wife: DIY Burlap Pendant Banner

Remember that Summer Bucket List of mine? Well, I actually did cross off some other stuff, but I'm just getting around to sharing it with you. Presenting #10 Make Something Crafty...

The Munchkin's birthday is in July and I really wanted to make a pendant banner. I can't sew, like anything at all, so I researched around and came up with my own DIY for us non-sewy people. Now, there is some sewing involved, but its pretty basic. Seriously. I can't even sew a button, so if I can "sew" this anyone can.

Things you'll need:

Burlap - amount depends on how big your pendants are and, of course, how many pendants you'll be making. I used a burlap linen blend that was formerly one of the table runners from our wedding.
Paper
Scissors, I recommend a pair of good sewing scissors to cut your burlap.
Felt tip pen
Embroidery needles
Embroidery thread - I used multiple colors, but one color will do just fine.
Iron
Hot glue gun
Craft paint - I also used multiple colors, but one color will do.
Small paint brush (like one of these).
A computer and a printer (to make your stencils)
Tape - any type
Twine - I used the jute, garden kind you can purchase at Home Depot, like this.

Start by figuring out how big you want your pendant triangles to be. After tinkering around for a bit, we decided the right size for our banner was 10x11x11. The banner was covering a fairly big area and we wanted the letters to be readable. The template should have a 1 inch "top" for folding over, like this:

So, start by cutting out a template. I used a heavier weight paper for this, but I think any paper will do.

Then trace your template onto the burlap with a felt tip pen, making sure you trace a pendant for every letter you need.

Then cut all of your pendants out. Sorry, I did not photograph the cutting, it takes two hands.

When you're done cutting, heat up your iron. Fold over the top one inch and iron away.

Once you've ironed all of your pendants, you are ready to sew. Don't be scurred. If ~~can't sew a button girl~~ I can do it, so can you.

Use a couple of embroidery needles to hold the flap down.

Make sure your thread is long enough.

Then make a knot in the end of your thread and do the basic "up-down" stitch. I really have no idea what this stitch is called, but you basically go "up-down" with your needle all the way across I also can't really give good advice on tying knots, but we have a fix for this later. Just do your best and make sure the knot is big enough that it doesn't pull through. It should look about like this when it's done.

When you're done sewing, cut off the folded over edges and any excess thread and lay your pendants out on a table.

Because I we are not the best knot-tiers, let's use a hot glue gun to secure our knots, shall we?

Good job. OK, now go to your computer and choose which font you want to use. I used Cooper Black at 300pt and printed all my letters in a word document. Then I cut all of them out and taped them face down to the back of my pendant flags.

For painting purposes, you can pretty much see the stencil letter through the front, but for the edges, I held it up to the light to paint the outline and then filled it in.

Once you're done painting in all of your letters, attach a safety pin to the end of your jute and string it through the pendants. Viola! You're done!

Feeling pinny? Here is a quicky version of the whole tutorial.

What's great about this banner is we can use "Happy Birthday" for anyone and just change out the name. Hence the "B" in my paint picture, I made a different name banner for a first birthday of our friends child. She borrowed happy birthday and kept his name banner, which makes a nice homemade gift too.

I'm thinking of making one of these for our mantle for Christmas. I spotted this one on Pinterest....