cheap and easy: a no-sew fabric banner tutorial

I should probably be saving this post for Teacher Week, but couldn't wait to share, and lots of non-teachery people might also benefit from learning how to make a fabric banner because they're a super fun way to add a little flavor to, well, anything. I'm sure there are other {better written} tutorials out there involving sewing and needles and measuring, but I favor imperfection over pricked fingers and rulers so here we go...

When it comes to projects, I really like instant gratification, so whatever I'm making/doing must take less than an hour to accomplish from beginning to end. And it must be inexpensive because I'm working with a meager little budget here. Further, I had several yards of fabric from the bulletin boards I deconstructed when I moved into my new room and they needed to be repurposed less they take up room in my limited cabinet space. What to do? What to do? {Lightbulb!} Make a fabric banner!

But I don't like to sew! Boo. And all the fancy ones on Etsy have stitching and are $19.95 and up. Gag. Minor detail: I don't own a sewing maching. Hmmmm.

Bring on the Stitch Witchery!

If you're mom didn't pack some of this in your send-you-off-to-college bag (mine did!) and you're not familiar with this stuff, let me just tell you: it's magic. It's an iron-on adhesive used to bond fabric and works like a charm to quickly hem pants or make fabric banners, in my case. Also, it costs $1.77 for 8yds and you can buy it at Walmart or any other crafty store. Love, love, love it.

So you need 3/4 inch Super Strength Stitch Witchery (or something similar), an iron, fabric, and 7/8 inch ribbon.

Now, go cut out a bunch of isosceles triangles. Don't measure. Just eyeball it. That's my method and it works just fine. If they're a little uneven, just go with it. It's called: visual interest.

Now, roll out your ribbon and then roll out some Stitch Witchery right on top of it. If you use the measurements mentioned above, you'll see that the fit is perfect.Next, I overlapped triangles upside down side-by-side on top of the ribbon-Stitch-Witchery combo. You don't want to be able to see the Stitch Witchery because if you iron directly on top of it, your iron will get sticky and that's no good. Hold your iron on top of the fabric-Stitch-Witchery-ribbon combo for 3-5 seconds and it will adhere. Repeat until you have the length of banner that you want. And, voila. You've made yourself a pretty little no-sew fabric banner. And, believe me, it will make you really happy. I strung mine up in the living room for blog's sake only. I have other plans for where it will really go. Also, it cost me under $5 to make. Though the fabric was free this time, you could probably get enough triangles out of a yard to make a fairly lengthy banner (I used around half a yard total and my banner was 18 feet long). It didn't stay up for long because Becks thought it was a little out of place in the living room...Come back next week to see where it will hang :)