One of my favorite decorations to make for a party is a fabric pennant banner. A banner just makes everything more festive! It’s also a great way to tie your color scheme together.
It also gives me an excuse to play with fabric which I love.
You may remember the banner I made for our family Christmas card photo this last year.
And here is the one I made for my Mummies Night Out last October.
Tessa’s Sail Away Graduation party was the perfect excuse to make another one! This time with a nautical color scheme.
The first step to making a fabric pennant banner is to choose your fabrics. I like to use 5 different fabrics. You want a variety of color, pattern and scale (some small prints, some large) I think this is the best part – picking out the fabrics! My nautical color scheme will work perfectly for the Fourth of July too!
I purchased half a yard of each of the fabrics which gave me enough fabric to make 4 banners that were 3 yards long each. The pennants are 9 inches long and 7 inches across at the top. A 1/2 yard is 18 inches so you will get two rows of pennants with 20 pieces or 10 pennants from each fabric.
Each banner had 12 pennants on it or a total of 48 between the 4 (I had two extra left over)
The first step is to cut your fabric into two 9 inch pieces (cut fabric in half across the width of the fabric)
Open up the fabric so there is just two layers and lay each piece on top of each other. You will have four layers of fabric. Make sure salvage ends are together..
Trip off the salvage on the end.
Next you will cut your pendants. Remember they are 7 inches across the top at the widest point and 9 inches long.
Using a ruler and a rotary cutter or scissors, lay your ruler at an angle. At the 7 inch mark and the 3 1/2 inch mark and cut
Next place your ruler at the bottom 3 1/2 inch mark you just cut to and then angle it up to the upper corner and cut. Discard the piece you cut off on the right hand side.
To cut your next pennant just angle the ruler from the upper point down to the 7 inch mark.
Just keep repeating.
You will get a total of 20 or 10 sets of pennants from the 1/2 yard.
Repeat with remaining fabrics.
After all pennants are cut place two pieces (matching fabric) together with wrong sides together.
With edges even sew down the two long sides of the pennants. Starting at the top and pivoting at the point. You do not need to sew the top closed as it will be closed when you attach to the bias tape.
I just keep my pressure foot right along the edge.
You will then have a nice pile of pennants. Fifty to be exact.
The next step is to attach them to the bias tape. I used Extra Wide Double Fold Bias Tape. Each package is 3 yards long so to use all your pendants you will need 4 packages.
With bias tape, one side is slightly longer than the other. Leaving about a 12 inch tail on the end (you will use this to tie it onto something), place your pendants inside your bias tape being sure the shorter side of the tape is up. I do not put my pendants in perfect alternating order. I mix it up a bit so it doesn’t look too perfect.
I place the pendants so they are end to end. Then sew down the bias tape, stitching close to the edge.
You will have a tail of about 12 inches on either end with no pennants. Sew this closed too. I prefer to make four separate banners rather than one long one as this gives me more flexibility in where and how I hang it.
Now you are ready to hang up your pennant banner and celebrate. Here are half of mine!
I’ve got some more fun graduation party decoration ideas coming up later this week!
Can’t wait to share my treasure I found at Goodwill. It’s amazing what you can do with a little bit of spray paint!! We’re having too much fun around here.
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LOVE the banners, Leigh Anne! You seriously just made me wish I hadn’t given my sewing machine away last year. These look fabulous. Nice work!
you are a hard working mom! i love these! i want to make them for my daughters baby shower at the end of summer, thanks for the tutorial!
These look great. Thanks for the tutorial. Where do you find the hours in the day to spend doing these. I am in awe of you!
I love the banners Leigh Anne! I am waiting to receive an invitation to Pinterest. As soon as I do, I am going to pin your banners in a party idea folder. : )
Be sure and follow me in Pinterest. I have a whole board devoted to banner ideas!
Oh thanks for posting that! I want to make some of these for my wedding so I’m looking for ideas! Will follow ya on Pinterest ASAP!
nice fabrics !
I have to make one for myself too one day !
Hi there.
I just came across your tutorial and love it. I actually bought a pendant kit at the fabric store today….after I make ONE, then I can get more creative and pick my OWN fabrics.
Interestingly enough, they didn’t tell me to sew 2 pieces of material together….they had me attaching some sort of backing to the material. [that would mean the back would look awful. I am glad I saw this before I started.
Thanks a bunch.
I made 6 of these for the 4th of July. They look GREAT! Such an easy to follow tutorial and the finished product really added so much POP to my back porch for our 4th festivities. I plan on making another set for Halloween. Thanks again.
I bet they looked great! So glad you found the tutorial helpful.
i loved this tutorial! so easy to follow, and i loved seeing the pictures for each step. these banners will be the perfect addition to my sons first birthday party in a few weeks. im in the process of making them, and im loving it. thanks so much for the help!! 🙂
Have fun making your banner. They are so fun to make and use. Happy Birthday to your son!
Thank you for the great tutorial. It was easy to follow and my banners came out perfect!!!!
Thanks so much for this tutorial. I am making these for my daughters
August wedding! Adorable.
Hi! I love this beautiful tutorial. 🙂
Just wanted to give you a head’s up that I recently linked it from my blog, SewLindsaySew. — > http://sewlindsaysew.wordpress.com/2011/10/18/do-the-sewing-touchdown-dance
Thanks for sharing this project – can’t wait to try it out!
OMgoodness. I was browsing the site and saw this tutorial, suddenly deja vu. I made a bunting line for a royal wedding party and used the exact same fabrics. Minus the fire-work looking one. Awesome just awesome! They are just meant to go together aren’t they. 🙂 Love it.
I used your tutorial to make a bunting for my family pictures… I would say it was a success!!! Here is the link to our pics:
http://photosbybeca.com/2011/11/rose/
Thanks for the tutorial!
I want to make these with my children’s names on them (coordinating fabric letter for each triangle.) How would you go about applying the letters?
You could either get fusible interfacting and fuse them down or you could applique stitch or zig zag them down on the fabric. I would probably fuse them down first so they don’t move around and then stitch around them with a zig zag stitch. Have fun!
Great tutorial! You’ve been featured on the Quality Sewing Tutorials blog.
We hand select only the best free tutorials and patterns for home sewers.
Thanks so much for showing how to do this so easily! We’re going to make these for my daughter’s 8th birthday party. She’s so excited to help me.
This is a GREAT tutorial! It’s super easy and fun and I love that its flexible in how you can hang it and makes 1/2 yards go a long way!
However, I’m working my way through my first batch still (my son’s birthday party) and I just can’t seem to get my machine to go through all 6(?) layers of the bias tape and pennants! Any advice on how to adjust my machine? I’m still rather new to sewing, and I’ve lengthened the stitch and swapped to a heavier duty (2025 for Singers) needle and still having a hard time getting through all the layers.
It may just be that your machine doesn’t handle multiple layers of fabric very well. Are you using a thick fabric for your pennants?
I’m curious, do you do anything to the sides of the flags to prevent fraying? If I want to use this as a photography prop for my studio, I’d want it to last a while. I wasn’t sure if it mattered. Thank you for the tutorial!
I have left them raw and not had a problem. If you are using a woven cotton you really shouldn’t have a problem.
you should be able to just straight stitch the pennants together and then use a zig-zag stitch to sew the edges together
I googled pennant banners and your darling blog came up. I too live in Utah and I wanted to thank you for your great tutorial. I love the family Photo….clever Idea! ANd the Halloween Table is lovely….I am sure everyone at the party loved it!
sincerely,
Heidi Beck
chickhardware.blogspot.com
THANK YOU! this is great! I’ve been wanting to make a pendant banner for some time now but was just going to “wing” it. This is detailed for a non-sewer like me!
So helpful! Thanks for the clear tutorial. I’ll be making one for my wedding! : )
Lovely tutorial, thank you! I have been searching for cute red, white, and blue fabrics for a Stars & Stripes baby shower I’m hosting at the end of June. Where did you purchase your fabrics? Do you happen to know the designer? I would be elated to purchase them for my banner project! 🙂
Danielle
I got the fabrics at Joanne’s last year. I do have a similar one available for sale in my etsy shop
I bought the fabric in that banner last year at Joanne’s. They have some fabrics that are similar this year. I also have a similar banner for sale in my etsy shop.
I love these. I have alwats wanted to make them. Thanks for the lovely tutorial, I will try this weekend 🙂
Thank you so much for your tutorial! I made two banners for my sister’s bridal shower and they turned out great! The steps were easy to follow and I hope to make more in the future. The only thing I changed was that I cut a triangle out of cardboard to use as a pattern. Thanks a lot!:)
So glad the tutorial was helpful. Making a template out of cardboard was a great idea.
Thanks so much–have made several (graduation, wedding, Halloween) of these now and love the results! Recently started sewing after a 15 year hiatus and this is exactly the project to get me going again! Truly appreciate you sharing this!!!
So glad you are back to sewing! Pennant banners can become addicting like you have found out. You will want one for every holiday and occasion.
Featured on my blog! 🙂
AMAZING thank you my husband bought me a sewing machine and it was sitting in a box bc I had no idea where to begin and then I found this and made my son a mustache bash banner for his first first birthday I’m do addicted I want to find another reason ASAP!
I bet it turned out darling! Love the idea of a mustache bash banner. So glad the tutorial was helpful.
Hi Leigh Anne,
Thank you so much!! I’m not a sewer, but bought a machine a few years ago so I could do some sewing on my scrapbook pages. However I love the look of pennants on everything, & decided to make one to decorate our campsite at the Palm Creek Folk Festival in Australia, in a couple of weeks. It was so easy to follow your tutorial, & my banner looks awesome!!
Michele, Glad the tutorial was helpful for you.
So cute! I found your tutorial on Pinterest. A quick question – do you wash your fabrics before cutting/sewing? I know generally you are supposed to but since these are just a decoration I wasn’t sure if it is needed. Mine will be hanging in my daughters room and so may need to be washed at a later date – so I was thinking I should do it first so it won’t shrink later – but I really don’t know!
I did not wash my fabric before I made them but if you think it will have to be washed often I would probably wash it before. I have never washed mine. Have fuN!
Great thanks so much for the quick reply!
i love your tutorial! i purchased some 4th of July fabrics this morning and had my own pennant banners just after lunch =)
thank you!
Have fun making your banner!
Hello Leigh. Any suggestions so there is not a raw edge. My niece would like one of these for her nursery. I assume it would get washed and don’t wan’t it to fray apart.
Julie, You could just put right sides together and sew around the pennant, leaving room to turn it right side out, press and handstich the opening closed. A lot more work but that way you won’t have raw edges
Thank you! That’s what I was thinking about doing. In which case I would need to make about 1/4 bigger on all sides, correct?
So I made these 3 years ago for my wedding, and they were super easy! Now I want to make a set for my classroom, and I can’t for the life of me figure out how to angle the ruler to cut the pennants. Can you help me? I keep looking at your pictures and my ruler and fabric and am completely dumbfounded!
Thank you in advance for your help!
Pam
Pam, In the directions I give you numbers which to angle your ruler at. Not sure how else to explain it, sorry.
Using a ruler and a rotary cutter or scissors, lay your ruler at an angle. At the 7 inch mark and the 3 1/2 inch mark and cut. The marks are the number of edges in from the outside edge of the fabric. So the top of the ruler is 7 inches in from the edge and the bottom is 3 inches in from the edge so it sits at an angle. There are photos in the post too, hopefully those will help.
Never mind…my brain finally woke up and I figured it out!!! Sorry to bother you!
And then I saw your response after I sent my last message. Thank you for taking the time to help me!
Pam