Super-de-Duper Valentines Garland

 Happy Super-Bowl-Sunday!!  Here in North Texas it is all we have heard about on the news for about a month now.  They have even had a countdown clock (I kid you not) at the bottom of the TV screen just to give us a second-by-second update.  *sigh*  I do like professional football a great deal, but having the Superbowl here at Jerry World is causing me burn out.  

This past week was certainly a trying one.  Like most of the country we had winter return in a really ugly way.  My son, who thank God is a sophomore and not a kindergartener, was home a record 4 out of 5 days last week.  So at least he can occupy himself and it kept cabin fever to a minimum around here.  We baked (and ate) chocolate chip cookies, watched movies, and I was free to work on projects all day long!  Since there is no snow removal equipment here, you just sort of have to tough it out until the ice and snow melt and things get back to near normal.  I keep the house stocked with food and toilet paper anyway, so I can hole up here for a month if need be.  

With Christmas long gone, the house seems a little bare now that the decorations are packed up and put away.  And let me tell you, after the gloom, sleet and snow we had last week, I was looking for a little pick me up in decor around here!  So, I pulled out some supplies and got to work......here is the result:

If you have a few fabric scraps and a little time on your hands, you can easily make one, too!  Here is the tutorial:

You will need basic sewing supplies and/ or hot glue

Print a copy of the Pennant Template

(note: I printed it at 125%)

I upcycled an 80's Valentines vest I thrifted, and pulled together a few remnants that complimented my decor

I started with red bias tape, but ended up using black double-fold bias tape instead.  I just liked the way it looked with my accents better.  I made 16 yo-yo's using my orange Clover yo-yo maker.  If you do not have one, it is approximately a 4 inch diameter circle made into a yo-yo.  I just mixed it up with various fabrics that I thought worked together.

I wanted to give the pennants some weight, so I cut 3 layers- the face fabric, a layer of felt and a layer of flannel.  I did that for all 5 pennants, so a total of 15 pieces. 

All you need to do is just layer them together, pin to hold them somewhat in place, and sew just over 1/4" all the way around the face.  Don't worry if they are *wonky*, you will fix that in a little bit.

Clip little fringe close to the stitching on the 2 long sides

Trim all edges to 1/4" from stitching

 To make the edges *chenille* toss the finished pennants in the rinse cycle with a little fabric softener, and dry in the dryer.

My fireplace mantle is pretty standard for our area- it measures just over 73" across at the widest part.  I have found that garlands work well if my "string" is 108" or so, which is 1.5 times the total width of the mantle.  Just find the *middle* of your string (in this case bias tape) and mark it with a pin.  Pick which pennant will be in the middle of your garland, and center it on the center of the bias tape.

Open up the bias tape, and tack the center pennant in place with a regular machine stitch.

It was at this point that I hung the garland up on the mantle to *dry fit* the rest of the pieces.  I left approx. 18" "tails" on each end so that my center pennant had the right amount of 'drop" and wasn't hanging too close to the firebox.  I then took my 4 remaining pennants and pinned them into place, which was approx. 10"-11" apart from each other.  I kind of eyeball things.  If you are really anal about things like that, measure  ;-)

After I machine tacked the remaining pennants into place, I folded over the bias tape, pinned it in place, and sewed the length of the 'string' to hold it all together.  Then, I hung it back up onto the mantle so I could fuss with the yo-yo's and arrange them and pin them, then unpinned them, and repinned them until I got it 'just right'.   I hand sewed each if the yo-yo's into place, but you could hot glue them if you want.  Now comes the real fun- embellishment!!

If you own a printer, you can print your own clothing labels, custom fabrics, and word tape to add to projects.  I have found that the best way is to use cardstock, spray with a little bit of fabric tack spray, and smooth a piece of muslin to the cardstock.  Trim the edges of the fabric so you don't have excess to get caught in the printer.  Print your design, no need to 'mirror image'.  Pull the fabric from the cardstock and heat set your design using a dry iron at the highest temp safe for your fabric- approx 10 sec. or so per area.

For this project I decided to try printing directly on twill tape.  :/

It is not as easy as doing a whole sheet, but here is the gist of it.  First, print your word phrases on your piece of cardstock.  Using double sided tape, stick the twill tape over the printed words.  Now put your cardstock with the twill tape stuck to it back in the printer and reprint the document.

Add them to your projects anyway you wish.  I used a little fusible web tape like Stitch Witchery to add a 'love phrase' to my center pennant.

I added some vintage trim and buttons to the remaining pennants, just for fun.  You certainly do not have to......but remember....we were iced in for 4 days here!!

That is really the whole thing in a nutshell!  It was easy, fast and totally customizable, just the way I like it!!  Just a few more ideas:

Instead of buying new candles for every occasion, consider wrapping the candles you have with a piece of scrapbook paper.  It's fast, inexpensive, and can be changed out on a whim.

Also, I glued scrapbook paper to a 'love' stand alone word set I had made up custom for me at Woodland Manufacturing 

They will make whatever you want, whatever size you want, in whatever font you want!!  Is that creative license or what?????  LOVE THEM!  I also had this ampersand made, and hopefully I will come up with something awesome to do with it this year.  

It is way cool!  I'm not sure it would be a bad thing if it were just painted black, but I was thinking maybe subway style lettering stenciled on to it.

 Okay...just about Superbowl time!  Gotta watch just for the neat ads and halftime show, if for no other reason.  I am going to the (hopefully) sunny beaches of Florida next week, and plan to come back refreshed, tan and full of new inspiration!  Happy Valentines Day!!


P.S. if you stop by from a Linky or Blog Hop and are a new follower, leave a comment and let me know, so I can visit (and follow back!).  Thanks!