For Charlotte's birthday party, I decided to create a banner and coordinating table runner out of fabric. I could have used scrapbook paper for the banner, which would have been just as cute, but I wanted it to match the table runner. Plus, I think that the banner will look precious hanging in Charlotte's room when the party is over. Soooo, I assessed what I already had and then when to Fabric.com to choose some additional fabric. I plan to do basically the same thing for Joey's birthday in February, so I ordered plenty for a second project.
These are the fabrics that I'll use for Charlotte's party decor:
And this is her party invitation, for reference:
The fabric and invitation are not matchy-matchy, but each fabric includes at least one color from her invitation.
Last night I started working on the table runner. I did not take pictures to document the process, but the project is very straightforward. I used my rotary cutter and self-healing cutting mat (thanks, Paul!) to cut strips of varying lengths but (fairly) uniform width. And then I stitched them together to form a long strip. Sorry, no pictures, but imagine something like this:
That's not an accurate representation by any means, but get the picture? Okay, good.
Now I just need to trim up the edges and stitch the runner and the liner together. For the liner I'm using a couple of yards of cheap off-white broadcloth, cut to the size of the runner. I'll stitch "right sides" together on three sides (like a pillow case) and then turn inside-out and stitch the fourth side closed.
Next on the agenda will be making her banner(s) from the above fabrics. I will cut the fabric into triangles and attach a fabric backing. Right now I'm thinking of using a no-sew method - Heat n Bond - so that the little flags will be stiffer. Imagine that it will look something like this, but hopefully with nice straight lines:
I'll share pictures of the actual table runner and banner soon, if only to prove that I can cut a straight line.
