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Around the House: Making A Nursery Banner

By Dawn Sailors In Crafty, Nursery

Before Vera’s first birthday, I made her a super simple fabric banner for her party.

I purposely made it using the colors from her nursery, and since then, it’s been living in her room.

So when I was looking for ways to add color to the new nursery, I naturally gravitated towards making a similar banner for the new baby.

When I originally made Vera’s banner, I just used some crochet string that I had on hand, and tied the strips of fabric onto it. It wasn’t long before that method failed though. The string just wasn’t heavy enough to stand up to a toddler pulling on it. Plus, the fabric pieces slid around a little too easily and tended to come completely off if either end was untied. After getting fed up enough, I finally just took the whole thing apart and remade it. This time, I used thick cording from JoAnne’s and knotted the fabric strips on. Not only is it much more sturdy, but I think it looks nicer and more uniform this way too.

So this was the same method I used when creating the new banner for the baby’s room this time around. To start with, I gathered the fabrics I had purchased. The purple here is actually just a bedspread I had in the room as color inspiration forever- so I didn’t really cut that up for the banner. The triangle fabric is the changing pad cover- so also not cut up for fabric strips. Don’t worry though. Those two got replaced with similar colored but different patterned options.

Once I had fabric locked in, I cut everything up into strips about 2-3 inches wide. You can make them however long you want.

Then I just started knotting fabric strips on in random order, making sure that no colors were too bunched up in any one area.

As mentioned above, this time, instead of just tying them on in a knot, I made a little loop in the middle of the fabric and pulled the ends through. It makes a little knot that sort of looks like a neck tie, and the fabric stays put better and looks more uniform. Here’s a close up shot to better explain (sorry for the iPhone quality – it’s what I had on me at the time):

And finally, the finished banner hanging out in the room:

This isn’t where it will live permanently. I’m all too aware that a tiny baby hand would have those fabric strips pulled into the crib in no time, but I like it hanging here until we get everything else up on the walls and I can find the perfect spot for the banner to live.

Oh, and if you’re checking out the art in that photo above, that is a little print I made for the baby that is still looking for a permanent home also. Below is another shot with a second print, this one ordered here, that brings in all the colors again. Slowly slowly the space is coming together!

All that’s left is to build some wall shelves (and maybe some for Vera while I’m at it), accessorize, and hang all the art. I’m also still waiting on a custom made quilt that should be getting here in a few weeks. Hopefully just in time, but I was pretty late on ordering it, so if baby get’s here first, I’ll be ok with that. :)

It feels so much more real when the nursery finally starts looking like a real room! I can’t wait to see everything all put together!!

Happy Friday!