Personalized Banners

Because Everyone Needs Something With Their Name On It

Remember when you were a little kid and you would patiently wait for the end of Romper Room? You may not have really liked the show, but you always hoped they would say your name at the end . . . and then they never did. I had the 20th most popular girls' name for the year I was born, and yet, no love. This is why it's important for every child to have something with their name on it. It makes you feel special; like that something was made just for you. Of course customizing is a lot easier these days thanks to websites like Zazzle. You can even get a t-shirt with your name and favorite Disney character. The days of hopelessly searching for a personalized bike license plate for little Lucretia are over.

Still, I like that handmade touch. After all, then it really is specially made. As I mentioned in a previous post, friends of ours just had a baby. Along with Floppy the Turtle, I decided to make little Christopher his very own name banner. This turned out to be infinitely easier than piecing together Floppy.

There are plenty of books out there that can tell you how to put this project together. Both Stitched In Time and Handmade Home have versions of this project. I should point out that Stitched In Time calls for you to paint the letters on the fabric. Paint = Messy.

For this project I used the instructions in One-Yard Wonders: 101 Sewing Fabric Projects; Look How Much You Can Make with Just One Yard of Fabric!. Of course, I never really follow the instructions verbatim. Sometimes this works out better, sometimes less so. The book instructed me to use felt for the letters. I didn't really care for my color options in felt so I opted for a soft flannel for both the pennants and the letters. The flannel worked just fine for the pennants, but was probably not a great choice for the letters. Flannel tends to fray at the edges. To combat this problem, I used fusible web to adhere the letters to the pennants. Fusible web is very similar to the Stitch Witchery I mentioned in an earlier post, and can be found with the stabilizers and interfacing at your local fabric store. As a general rule, fusible web should be used when appliquéing. The instructions had called for fabric glue, but I'm not really a fan. It doesn't seem to hold up over time. I also hand stitched along the border of the letters in the hopes that this would help stabilize the letters, while also giving them better definition.



This time, following the instructions, I sewed the pennants between the layers of double fold bias tape and created loops at the end. Now Christopher won't have to wait for the lady on Romper Room to call his name, he'll already know he's special.