Mix-and-match banner makes mantel decor easy
I recently moved to a new house that is less than half the size of my former home, but the new place has one key feature the old one lacked: a fireplace. Or, more specifically, a fireplace mantel to decorate.
Moving and furnishing a house is expensive, though. So I designed a pennant banner that can hang from my mantel year-round and quickly be updated from holiday to holiday, season to season.
The secret is reversible fabric pennants that are held in place with bits of Velcro. It took a little planning to figure out the best color-combinations, but the result is a banner than can be transformed over and over again.
The orange, black and white version easily can segue from Halloween to Thanksgiving by switching out the black and white for more autumnal brown, red and yellow. Swap out the greens on a green-and-red Christmas banner and replace them with pink and white for Valentine’s Day. Bring back the green for St. Patrick’s Day, mix pink, yellow and light green for Easter and spring, and follow up with red, white and blue for the Fourth of July. Or, arrange the pennants in rainbow order for a festive birthday banner.
I chose to sew mine, but an easier option would be cutting triangles from felt.
Pennant banner
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Cardstock or thin cardboard Approximately 2 yards of extra-wide double-fold bias tape in a neutral color (I chose gray) 1/4-yard pieces of solid color fabric in 10 colors (I used red, orange, yellow, light green, dark green, blue, pink, brown, black and white) Approximately 1/2 yard of 1-inch-wide sticky-backed or heat-set hook-and- loop tape Sewing machine, thread Iron
Procedure:
Create a template for the pennants out of cardboard or cardstock by drawing a triangle that measures 6½ inches across the base and 6½ inches tall.
Layer two pieces of fabric together. The color combinations I chose were: red/black, orange/white, yellow/blue, green/pink, light green/brown.
Trace templates onto each pair of fabrics and cut out at least three pennants for each combination.
Sew along two sides of each triangle with a ¼-inch seam allowance, leaving the base of the triangles open.
Turn pennants right-side out and press.
Sew openings closed using a zig-zag stitch.
Cut hook-and-loop tape into small rectangles, measuring about ¼ inch by ½ inch. Adhere four of the softer “loop” pieces to the top corners of each pennant, two on the front and two on the back. Unfold the bias tape, and adhere the rougher “hook” pieces, using the pennants as a guide for placement. The goal is to be able to sandwich the pennants inside the folded bias tape, with the hook-and-loop tape holding them in place.
This photo taken Oct. 2, 2016 in Hopkinton, N.H., shows a fireplace mantel decorated for Christmas. A banner made with reversible, removable fabric pennants makes it easy to update your decor with each season and holiday. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer)
This Oct. 2, 2016 photo taken in Hopkinton, N.H., shows a rainbow-hued banner displayed on a fireplace mantel. The colorful decoration brightens up a birthday celebration, but this banner also can be transformed for nearly any holiday or season thanks to reversible, removable pennants. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer)
In this Oct. 2, 2016 photo, black, white, orange and yellow pennants evoke Halloween and candy corn in a banner hanging from a fireplace mantel in Hopkinton, N.H. The pennants can be removed and replaced with other colors for the next holiday. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer).
In this Oct. 2, 2016 photo, a black cat becomes part of the decor in Hopkinton, N.H. The pennants on this colorful banner are held in place with bits of hook-and-loop tape, making it easy to transform the banner for each holiday in turn. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer)
This photo taken Oct. 2, 2016, in Hopkinton, N.H., shows how small pieces of hook-and-loop tape can hold fabric pennants in place to create a decorative banner. (AP Photo/Holly Ramer)