New Sewing Tips for Banners or Bunting

My brother married his sweetheart last week, hence the quiet here for the last few days.  I wanted to make a  "Love @ Home" banner for them as part of our gift.

Since I first published my Birthday Banner Tutorial, I've had some readers ask about interfacing, turning and topstitching.  The following are my tips and tricks for making a reversible, topstitched banner.


In the original birthday banner tutorial, (and even with my first love @ home banners) I sewed the letters directly to the premade pennants.  This time, however to make the banner reversible, applique your message before you assemble the pennants.

Tip one, add a small piece of interfacing directly behind where you want to apply a letter.

Tip two, applique the letter JUST to the interfaced pennant, before you sew the two halves together.  I just used a straight topstitch, but you could easily satin stitch if you'd like.

Here is what the pennants look like after finishing the applique:

If you'd like to have finished, topstitched edges to your pennants, you sew them along the outer edge at 1/4" seam allowance, with the front and back right sides together.

Trim the seam allowance with pinking shears, or at the very least around the point to reduce bulk.

Tip three, turn right side out and use a chopstick and a seam ripper to gently pull the corner out.

Tip four, carefully press each pennant, trying to keep both sides turned equally.

Tip five, don't try to topstitch through the point of the pennant.  As you can see if the first two pennants, the stitching is wonky.  Getting my sewing machine feed dogs to get through the bulk resulted in some bad curves.  Instead, start from the top, and sew to the tip and back stitch.  Then, repeat for the other side.

Once your pennants are all turned and topstitched, you can proceed to put your banner together as usual.

Make sure you leave enough bias tape length at the ends to tie a bow.

The finished product feels more substantial with all the additional stitching...and it's completely reversible.  For the newlyweds, I used lovely earth tone fabrics.  (My brother is an avid outdoorsman, and my new sister-in-law is equally adventurous.)

Just for fun, here are some candids from their wedding, which took place near Brighton, Utah.

Here are Mr. Pickup and his girls, waiting before the ceremony.

This is my brother coaching his nephews on their duties as ringbearers and best men.

The ceremony  begins.  All of the nieces were asked to be flower girls.

The officiator gave some great counsel.

Then the ceremony began.

My fondest congratulations and happiest wishes go with you both.  May there always be love at home.

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