Halloween Banner

Since I already had my sewing machine and ironing board out, I decided to work on another project - the Halloween banner. Originally I was going to have it say "spooky" but then decided to go ahead and have it say "Happy Halloween." I used this tutorial from the Moda Bake Shop that my friend Shannon (who has been very crafty these past few months!) sent me. She made the Happy Birthday banner in the directions, but you know me. Can't leave well enough alone!

I only made my flags 2 1/2 inches by 4 inches instead of the 5 1/2 by 8 inches directed. I didn't want my banner to be that big! Since I didn't plan to put trims on the bottoms of the flags, I went ahead and sewed them on three sides instead of just two. I also topstitched each flag because I think it makes them look more finished. I will say, whoever came up with the tip of shoving a piece of chipboard into the shapes to iron them flat quickly is a genius! No burned fingers and nice, flat flags ready for topstitching. Fabulous!

I used the scraps leftover from the table runners to make the flags. I think I totally got my $2.75 worth from each fat quarter of fabric that I bought! There's hardly any left and some are totally gone. I used my Epic to cut out the letters for the flags, as well as the scalloped circles. Can you believe this was my first time using that iron on fusible webbing stuff? It's ridiculous how easy it is to use. Well, once I got past my confusion because I bought the kind that only sticks on one side at first. Whoops. Thank goodness for a husband who was willing to do a Joann run, huh?

Originally the banner was just going to say "Halloween" but then my inability to count reared it's ugly head again and I ended up with an extra flag. Not wanting to waste it, I used Stickles to spell out "happy" on the scalloped circle. Then I went ahead and outlined all my letters in Platinum Stickles, because everything is better with a little glitter on it. :)

The hardest part of this I think was sewing the dang pom pom trim along the top edge, because you have to make sure to push the little poms off to the side so they don't get stuck under your presser foot. I think if I had used a bigger pom pom trim, where the top edge had been wider, this wouldn't have been an issue.

I am very happy with how this turned out!