Appliqued Banners

Our Barony recently wanted new banners.  We knew what we wanted to do and only a few folks had ever sewn a banner.  Three gold trees (of fashion fabric) with a laurel wreath, on a blue background with a gold border.

The approximate finished size will be 20” wide by 25” high with 4 tabs for hanging on a cross bar.  PLEASE READ THESE IN THEIR ENTIRETY BEFORE STARTING.

After cutting out your designs, iron all of the fabric.  Iron a fold in the middle of the large rectangle piece that is to be the background of the front and the backing.  This line will be the divider between front and back. (Cut out 2 half trees, 1 full tree, a border, a back, 4 tabs and the wreath.)

Take your gold border fabric and trim it to a 2" wide strip.  If one strip isn't enough to go around your background piece, add another strip to it and after sewing, iron the seam flat.

Using Stitch Witchery or some other iron on backing, iron a piece onto 
the green that you will be using for your laurel wreath.  On the 
remaining paper backing, trace your laurel wreath pattern on paper. 
This will be the back of your wreath.  Carefully, cut out the wreath and 
then iron it to the center tree.  By doing it in this order, you should 
have a clean and sturdy edge.

Place your wreath in the center tree and remove the paper 
backing.  Make sure it is nice and even before you iron it in 
place.  Iron according to instructions, usually 5-8 seconds, 
then set the trees aside.

Taking the border fabric, line it up on your background piece and if you have a seam, place it near a lower corner.  I like to sew the backing and border right sides together. This way when it is turned and ironed, you have a nice front bottom edge of the banner, and 1 seam is completed.   Pin the heck out of your border to keep it flat and in the right place.  

To make the corner pleats, line up the edge of your border and backing. Pin in place before and after your pleat.  Slowly tuck in the excess fabric until you have a square inside corner, pin and then sew in place.

begin fold

tuck it in

pin it down

sew in place

 On a scrap of fabric,  play with your zigzag stitch and make it tight/close together and wide. Sew the inside of the border down using your setting. Sew from the bottom, to the top on each side; left and up and right and up. This helps prevent wrinkles and puckers. Make sure that most of the stitch is on your border fabric and the opposite edge of your stitch just past the edge of the border fabric. This will help  your border from fraying.

Once you are at your border ends, wherever they may fall, pin a seam into the ends, sew, trim and iron flat. Finish with your tight zig zag stitch.

Line up your trees in the center of the banner, inside the border.  The trees should not touch the border fabric.  Again pin the heck out of your trees, they have an amazing tendency to creep across your fabric and could be crooked. I like to sew from the top to the bottom here.  Place your two back trees down and the center tree over them.

I sew down one side, from the top of the center tree to the bottom, then do the same on the other side.  This helps prevent unwanted puckers. The outside trees are similar. Sew from the top to the bottom, then the other side of the trunk and root.  Then do the third tree the same.

From here, you are ready to finish the wreath in the trees.  Using a regular but narrow zig zag stitch, sew down along the edge of the wreath.  This makes a permanaite attachment of the wreath to the trees and to the backing fabric!

The banner is finished except for the edges and tabs at this point.

      Iron the trees using a ironing cloth. (I like an old scrap of white cotton). Using a 3-1 ratio of water and white vinegar. Dip your cloth and lay over the trees. Iron until the cloth is dry. (I don’t know why, but using the vinegar solution helps the ironing, whether flat or a fold, stay.) Your banner front is almost complete at this point.  

      Turn your banner in half at your earlier ironed fold which is now the bottom of the banner. Pin your banner, front to back along the sides. Using a long stitch, sew/baste up the sides of your banner to the top, but not along the top. Fold the banner inside out and check your border width. You should have about a 2” border. Make any adjustments and if it looks good, turn your banner again with the wrong side out and re-stitch using a normal length stitch. Iron flat making sure the back does not show around the edges past your gold border. Iron your top edges, matching the width of the rest of the border. 

      For the tabs, sew a single seam along the long edges then iron them flat; placing the seams on what will be the inside of the fold. Pin your tabs to the banner, spacing them evenly out. Pin the back to the front with the tabs stuck down between the sides. Make sure the banner hangs even. Sew either by hand or machine carefully along the top edge, sealing the banner shut.

      WaLa... you are done.  Hopefully you will have a banner that is pleasing to the eye.  Remember they don't have to be perfect.  Step 5 feet back and most errors disappear!  

And one last note: This isn't the only way to do a banner!