Tutorial - No Sew Banner

Love the look of those cute patterned stitched pennant banners but don't have a sewing machine at home? With your computer, printer and colored paper, you're only a few steps away from your own completely customizable cute banner.

Here we go...

What you need:
- Computer with Pages or Photoshop. (Not sure what comparable program is for a windows PC - all Mac girl here)
- Color printer (and ink)
- Colored paper (US Letter or A4)
- Ruler
- Box cutter or scissors (box cutter is much neater, easier and straighter, but scissors would work too.)
- Hole Punch
- Cutting surface (I use my glass table top)
- Twine or ribbon

1. Create your template in Pages or Photoshop. I used Pages because it's a simple template to design. I created a triangle (7 inches along the top side), copied it and flipped it upside down so the two triangles create a diamond shape on the page.

2. Consider the colors of your party as well as the paper you have. The colors we were using were yellow, green and pink. I had picked up an assorted pack of colored paper which had green, yellow, pink and blue. I decided to print a color on color pattern to give it a little extra kick. I used patterns that I have created in Photoshop (exported as JPEG) but you could also just search on google for different colored patterns to use as the image fill. In the photo below you can see that I filled the shape (Triangle) with the image as a Tile, put a border on in the same color as the pattern (shown here is the pink), and also modified the opacity a little so the pattern wasn't too strong.

 3. Do a test run on your printer on a white sheet of paper to see if any part of the triangles get cut off by the printer margins. If you find that the triangles are too big, you can adjust the size of the document you print (try %95 instead of %100).

Then set up your printer to make as many copies as you need. Below are my printed sheets all ready to be cut out.

4. Cut, cut, and cut some more until all your flags are done. Use your ruler to get a nice straight edge on all the flags.

5. Phew! It was a lot of cutting, but I finally had all my piles of flags. I also printed out a few sheets that had no pattern, just the outline of the triangle.

6. Use one of your flags (maybe one that had a bad cut or mistake) as a template for where you want the holes punched. This ensures that all your flags have the holes in the same spot. Use your template and hole punch and punch two holes at the top of each flag. I could do about 6 flags at a time with my hole punch. Just make sure they are all lined up with the template and facing the right way.

7. Once all your flags have the holes punched it's time to get your twine and start stringing them together. You could also use a thin ribbon for this part. Since I was keeping my flags very close together I decided to just use the twine.

String the flags together by threading the twine (or ribbon) in through the front, across the back, and out the other side. I didn't keep the same pattern throughout the whole banner, just mixed it up a bit between colors, patterned flags and solid color flags. I needed 9 flags to cover a 6 foot span.

 9. Finished! Tie up your banner, letting it swag a bit. We added tissue paper pompoms to both sides of the banner to finish off the ends.

 Closeup. Banner and Pompom with coordinating ribbons hung together with the pompom.

One of the best things about this project is you can do it well in advance of your event, and it really makes a big statement in terms of decor.

Once your event is over, you can separate the flags for use in another banner, or keep as is.

Hope you enjoyed our first tutorial. There will be more to come!

Check out more of this banner in action here.

Linking up with Tutorial Tuesday, Show Me What Ya Got, TOO Cute Tuesday, Terrific Tuesdays, Handmade Tuesdays, and Take-A-Look Tuesday