Making a fabric heart banner...
page 2
by Barbara Strembicki, January 2010
This heart is different from the other two in that I centered the design and
decided it should be more or less symmetrical. I tend to lean to asymmetry
but you can't always do the same thing. At least I think so! I've
held the leaves in place with tiny stitches of Nymo D.
Added some cheesecloth which I'm stitching in place with some perle cotton...
Adding a button seems like a good idea, but maybe I need some...
More leaves first.
The button fit nicely in the center of the leaves and I added rhinestones to
this one too.
I tried something a bit different here. On a previous occasion I had
put some silk gauze in a paint wash (just as I did with the cheesecloth) and
tempered the bright white color. A piece was on the table and I grabbed
it, pulled the threads that are woven to make the fabric, kind of like you would
gathering stitches, causing it to scrunch up. Using some Nymo D, I tacked
it down on the heart...
Added some beads to hold it in place a bit more decoratively, then added a
Czech dragonfly button and some leaves.
Trying for yet more of a different look, I used some perle cotton to make
long, open stitches on the face of the heart. At this stage they could
easily be pulled right out of the fabric, but I had a plan. That may have
involved more rhinestones. Perhaps...
I love rhinestones! This time when I glued them in place I was careful
to add just enough glue to catch the perle cotton too which secured those open
stitches in place. Simple, but effective!
One afternoon I was playing, trying to decide how to give this heart a
slightly different look than the others. I decided cheesecloth was out
since I'd used it a lot in the prior ones. I grabbed a piece of Corde
Twist and was aimlessly twisting it around the heart when I realized that I
might be on to something. I kept at it, grabbed some leaves and a muslin
sentiment, tucked them in around the wrapping and decided I liked the way it
looked.
Another bit of serendipity... I had a sheet of the Lovely Lady Onsies printed
fabric images that I'd brought home for this project, set to one side and forgot
about. I was rooting around for something else and unearthed them, much to
my delight. I felt that the picture would blend too much into the heart
fabric, so I tore a small square of one of the other fabrics and glued the print
to it. I stitched the layered piece to the heart with some perle cotton
that I threaded beads on (upper left corner) and used a small mother of pearl
button on the lower right corner.
One more Mother of Pearl button, this time I tied some perle cotton through
the holes and then glued it in place. I added some perle cotton danglies
to the Corde Twist ones, threaded some beads on and called this one done!
This is the last one of the bunch. Cheesecloth, a trailing piece of
ribbon from a Tussie Mussie, another Mother of Pearl button or two, another
printed fabric image from that same sheet of Lovely Lady Onesies, also mounted
on a square of fabric, some beads, and this one was done!
And here they are all together, finished at last. I deliberated for a
while, trying to figure out the best way to string them together. My
initial idea was to sew through them from edge to edge with a large needle and
use Corde Twist as the stringing material. What I discovered was that I
didn't own a needle with an eye large enough to allow the Corde Twist to pass
through. Not only didn't I own one, we also didn't have anything at the
warehouse among the vast selection of needles we stock. Necessity being
the mother of invention and all that, I finally settled on creating little loops
on each side of the hearts using perle cotton. All I did was take a 1/8"
stitch on the upper right and left of each one and tied it with an overhand
knot, making sure to leave a bit of a loop with each one. That loop was
used to string short lengths of Corde Twist through, connecting the hearts edge
to edge. If I'd remember to stop and take photos while I was doing that it
would have been a good thing so I could show you. The key word in that
sentence is "if". If only I'd remembered to take a bloody photo!
The original plan was to have 5 hearts on a string, but as I was messing with
them one day and held them up to one of the windows in my studio I realized that
6 would make a really nice draping loop. So six it was!
If you look closely you can just about see the loops I sewed into the upper
edge of each side of the hearts. I trimmed the ends of each of them and
the Corde Twist, but not too short as I wanted dangles there too. I
suppose I could have beaded the dangles, but it didn't occur to me till just now
as I was typing this. I guess there's always room for more beads!
As for the group of hearts that Jess began... they're partly done and are my
next project. I have all of the embellishments on my studio table and so
plan to finish the four that remain. I have 4 windows in the studio and
would like to have a heart banner for at least two of them. I'll post that
one once it's done and let you know!
... A week later, February 6, 2010 and the other set of hearts is complete!
This time I remembered to photograph the loops I sewed to the sides of each of
the hearts plus the Corde Twist I used to connect them...
I threaded a needle with doubled #8 perle cotton and took a small stitch on
the upper left and right of each heart. Tie an overhand knot, leaving a
small loop to pass the Corde Twist though and that side is done. You'll
need to add a loop to each side of the hearts.
Once you're finished cut lengths of Corde Twist, pass it through the loops
and tie an overhand knot. I can't tell you how long to make the Corde
Twist, it depends on how wide your window is and how many hearts you have.
My windows are 37" wide from the edge of the molding on one side to the other.
Each of my banners has 6 hearts of the exact size as the pattern. When I
assembled the first one I laid them out right in front of the window to see how
much room I had to play with and from there had a reasonable guess as to whether
I could fit all 6 of them and how much space there ought to be between them.
Since the windows are all the same width I knew how big to make the loops and
how long the lengths of Corde Twist needed to be on the second banner.
Here it is all strung and ready to hang.
I made the same kind of loop with the Corde Twist on each end of the banner
as I used to connect them. The only difference is I left the tails quite a
bit longer which meant I had some leeway to adjust from left to right and how
deep to make the swag in the banner. I wanted this one to match the first
since the windows are adjacent.
I'm a fanatic about nails and hooks in the walls and on window molding and
casing. It pains me to nail or screw into anything, even for curtains.
Nailing into the window casing for these banners was no exception, though I
found a solution that didn't make me squirm too much. In the nails and
screws section at Lowe's I found furniture nails, like you'd use for upholstery,
and was doubly thrilled to see then in white which meant they were not going to
stick out like a sore thumb against the white paint on the molding. It's
the little things that thrill me, truly.
I lightly hammered one of the nails to the side of the molding and attached
one end of the banner by looping the Corde Twist around the nail, then I tapped
it till it was almost in all of the way - just enough to hold it from slipping
off the nail. I held the banner to the window to gauge if I had the length
about right and once I knew it was where it needed to be I hammered the nail in
the rest of the way. Same thing on the other side while I stood back to
see if the two banners more or less looked even, then the nail was set and I was
done!
Here it is on the window...
Standing back to see both windows... And a view of the mess I have over
on the right, on my 12' counter.
In April 2010 we received a new collection of fabric from Moda called French
Lace Batiks. It occurred to me that they too would make nice hearts.
So I cut and sewed a few to get the sense of how the batiks would translate into
the heart shapes. Here's what they look like...
They combine well with the same embellishments I used for the original group
made from the Mill House Inn fabric line - Prima velvet leaves, the buttons,
etc...
UPDATE: July 2010
Joanna Figueroa's new line of fabrics, Fresh Cottons, arrived earlier in the
month and I decided to make more hearts from them. Two of the four windows
in my studio still need banners and I think these new fabrics will make
wonderful hearts.
I cut, sewed and stuff 11 hearts. Which while great, isn't enough for the
two windows. I need 6 per window so that the banner spans it and 11 hearts
isn't going to do the job! I'll have to make a couple more once I get this
batch finished.
The colors in Fresh Cottons are similar, but not the exact same, as the ones in
the Mill House Inn collection. They are close enough however that most of
the embellishments I used on the first group will work just fine, as will the
perle cotton and the beads.
I have 5 either finished or almost done. Just 7 more to go!
The pearls that you see to the right of the button are from a Prima Holiday
Lights spray. I cut off a section, bent it to conform to the button and
glued it in place.
This is the one that's not quite finished. It needs some beads and maybe some
silk ribbons... or who knows what else?!
I like this one a lot and will probably reuse this style of embellishing on
another one so that each window has one like this.
I hope that you enjoyed seeing a bit about how I created these. If you
want to give it a try I've made an actual size heart pattern that you're welcome
to print out and use. Click
here for the heart pattern.
S U P P L I E S to make your own heart banner... (click the words to
see the products)
Mill
House Inn Fabric **
French
Lace Batiks **
Fresh
Cottons Fabric **
Prima
Velvet Leaves **
Czech
glass buttons **
Mother
of Pearl buttons **
Tussie
Mussies **
Corde
Twists
Cheesecloth **
Golden
Fluid Acrylic Paints **
#8 Finca
Perle Cotton **
Micron
Pigma Pens **
Beads
**
Nymo D
Glues and
Adhesives of all kinds **
Fiberfill
Go to page 1
