Wednesday, March 10, 2010

St. Patrick's Day Banner Tutorial

Festive banners are all the rage on blogland lately, and I decided to make a quick and easy Irish themed banner for St. Patrick's day. This banner spells out "Sláinte" which is Irish for "Cheers". There are a lot of ways to make banners, and I liked this because it was so fast. The key is to use "Fray Check" on the fabrics to keep the edges from fraying instead of folding them over, or backing them. I don't ever intend to wash this, so I was happy with this solution.


You will need:
9 green or Irish themed fabrics (fat quarters will do)
1.5 yard ribbon
1 yard pom pom fringe
Black Felt
A computer and printer
Triangle Pattern (see below)
Fray Check

First, print out the triangle shape and cut it out. Use that to trace triangles on all of your fabrics. Cut them out. Use your bottle of Fray Check and put a small amount of the liquid on both of the long sides of the fabric (on the back side) Set aside to dry.

Choose a simple font that you like (I used Arial) and print out the letters S-L-A-I-N-T-E in a 200 point font. Print, trace, and cut the letters out of the black felt. Assemble in order to read "Sláinte" (note that there is an accent over the "a" and I just copied the dot from the letter "i" for that). Using black thread in your machine sew them onto each of the triangles. There should be one triangle at the beginning and end of the word that don't have letters on them.

Next, lay the poms along the top of all of the triangles. On top of that lay down the ribbon. Pin in place. Then you can zig zag or straight stitch along the length of the triangles and you are done!


If you click on this triangle pattern it will appear full size for you to print out:
Enjoy! Sláinte!


Thursday, March 4, 2010

Looking for a Good Book to Read this St. Patrick's Day?

If so, check out "Bridget and the Magic Shoes", an adorable book that my sister Gretchen wrote and Blake illustrated. Only $8.50 at Lulu.com!! The official book summary is "Young Bridget helps a leprechaun out of a sticky spot and the leprechaun gives her a surprise in return!"

This book is based off of stories that my sister would tell her daughters of life in Ireland and using our Great-Grandmother Bridget McHugh (when she was a little girl) as the main character. It is so charming and I'm so proud of her for writing it!