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Fall Welcome Banner
by Mary Wilkins - sewwhatsnew@hfx.eastlink.ca

Description: Instructions for making an autumn welcome banner.




You want everyone to feel welcome in your home. Here is a quick, easy project to hang close to your front door. It would also make a wonderful Housewarming Gift for someone in their new home.

It can be made in a couple of hours with scraps of fabric and some fusible webbing.

Gather up all your fall colours in fabric. Golds, yellows, rusty browns, earth tones, greens or orange amd some neutral coloured background fabric to show them all off.

Cut the neutral fabric 22" long x 6" wide.

Cut dark letters approximately 2" in height and width. These I drew freehand. I am not an artist! Or use stencils!

Then I went out into the yard and found a nice leaf and traced around it for the top and bottom motifs. These were from separate fabrics from the letters. Apply webbing to the leaves.

Using fusible webbing, trace your letters onto the paper side and following manufacturers directions, apply to the back of the letter fabric.

Now it is time to plan your spacing. First, apply the leaves to the top and bottom. Keep them about 1/2" away from the edges of the neutral fabric. Peel off backing and press onto neutral fabric.

Next, fold your neutral strip in half lengthwise and press with iron. Press open. The press line will be your guide for placing the letters.

Center your letters on the press line, spacing them evenly apart. Peel off backing and press letters to backing fabric. Now you can either straight stitch around the outer edges of the letters, use an embroidery stitch or leave as is.

Add border strips of contrasting dark fabric. Cut 1 1/2" strips the sides of the banner. Sew to either long side of banner. Now measure and add top and bottom strips.

Cut backing same size as completed top. With backing face down on top (right sides together) sew around four sides leaving about 2" opening at one end. Turn right side out and stitch opening closed by machine or hand.

With darker thread, stitch veins in leaves and around outer borders. This will give the whole project some definition.

Last, but not least, sew 2 rings to back and hang by your front door.

Written by Mary Wilkins, editor/owner of http://www.sew-whats-new.com, a friendly online community for anyone who sews or quilts.