Mission Pennant Banner: Complete

Last night I was up until 2:30am finishing the most fun craft project I've ever done. I finished a pennant banner for the nursery and had the greatest time. Here's my own mini-tutorial, although I can't claim to be the expert. Most of my inspiration came from this site. I just added a few ideas from other tutorials I saw.

First I bought adorable fabric at a local quilting store. I got 4 different patterns. Each was $10 a yard, so I just got a 1/4 yard each. That made it affordable.

I then cut a triangle cardboard pattern 7 inches wide and 9 inches long. That made cutting the triangles fast and easy- I could even cut them side by side to minimize waste. To cut I used a mat and my rotary blade.


I wanted my banner to be double sided so I pinned two pieces of each fabric together. As you can see I went with the brown, green, pink scheme again.


I then sewed a 1/2 inch from the edge down each side of the triangle.


I wanted to add a little extra to the edges so I got pinking shears and pinked the edges of the flags. This was the hardest part since my shears weren't super sharp and on some of the flags I had to cut the two pieces of fabric separate.


I then placed my triangles in order and pinned them into the bias tape. I used the Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape (in brown) like the above tutorial recommended.


I then sewed the flags to the bias tape.


And... voila!


This is view when you walk in the door. It was Ben's idea to hang the banner from one wall to another like that. I love it.


There you have it! So much fun, and surprisingly simple. Mission pennant banner: complete.

Nesting

Ben would attest that almost perpetually since I found out I was pregnant 8 months ago, I've had our dining room table piled with my sewing machine, fabric, felt, ribbon, etc. He says I'm nesting. He's probably right. I'll post my latest projects and let you decide for yourself.

The nursery colors I've picked are light pink, light green, and brown. I would love to paint the nursery this color... but there's only so much decorating you can do in an apartment.

Changing table/dresser:

For our dresser, my sister Tina gave me her old changing table. I then got four baskets for $10 a piece at Joanne's (during a 1/2 off sale) and sewed liners to go on the inside.

I used white duck fabric my mom had. It was my first time making a pattern, but it went okay. On the inside, they looked like this:

Then I sewed a paisley ribbon around it with elastic.

For the final touch I sewed a button on front.

In total there are 4 baskets and I use them to store the baby's blankets, toys, and clothes. So I paid only $40 for our baby dresser.



Baby quilts:

I sewed my first real quilt out of squares I bought at the Gardner Village quilting store (if you ever get a chance to go there, don't pass it up). It's not perfect, but it was a good sewing experience for me.


I backed it with a brown and then my mother-in-law and I tied it with light green embroidery thread.


I basically based the other colors in the nursery around this quilt.

As for my most recent project, I found some brown remnants at Joanne's of that ultra soft/ultra expensive fabric (I can't remember the name now). Later, I got a 50% off coupon and bought the same fabric in green. I then sewed them together.


However I didn't feel like the green and brown was girly enough on it's own, so I added some felt flowers to the corner. I took my inspiration from this tutorial.

This is when I had just pinned them, trying to decide how I wanted to sew them on.

I finally decided to zig-zag around the outside flowers and then use crochet thread on the inside flowers. I probably sewed the zig-zag 5 or 6 times trying to get it right. By the end I was pretty frustrated, but I think it was worth it.

The final product!

And here's just a bonus picture of me at 33 weeks (Ben was testing out the camera).

7 weeks left! How many more sewing projects can I do in that amount of time? I don't think Ben wants to know :)

Sewing Projects

Since Ben is working part-time and in school full-time, he's often gone in the day and sometimes at night. I, on the other hand, only work 3 nights a week so I am often home alone. A few months ago I decided I had had enough of sitting around; I was going to learn how to sew. My mom bought me a sewing machine for my birthday earlier this year so I pulled it out of the closet and set to work. I found some great flannel on sale at Wal-Mart for $1.99 a yard, so I decided I would start out by making a baby quilt. I didn't want to worry about getting it exact so I made it into a rag quilt. It took a couple of days, but I think it turned out cute.
My second project I finished just last week. I had always wanted to sew a scrub top, so after a coworker told me of an easy pattern I bought some fun fabric and started. I was proud because I only got frustrated once! After a night and an afternoon, it was done.
After I finished, I kind of regretted using the fabric to make a scrub top. But I guess it turned out cute. My next project: a skirt. But I think I'll give it a few weeks. I can only enjoy sewing so much. :)