Playhouse Pennant Tutorial

I love the pennants and flags that are popping up all over the blogosphere of late. I got the idea to make this for the kids' playhouse after making one for Little Miss Pink's 1st birthday party.

I kind of combined the pennant from Little Miss Pink's birthday with this one I'd seen in blog land (linked from a FAVORITE crafty site, One Pretty Thing):
on Maya*made.

One caveat. I am a horrible sewer. No. Wait. That's sewer, as in "place to where the toilet flush travels." Right? I mean seamstress. Whatever. I'm a terrible, awful user of a needle and thread and sewing machine. Don't look closely at the sewing. But the idea is cute, fun, and (if you're even only mildly bad at sewing!) could be even more cute if handled by a talented seamstress!

The idea behind the project was to let the kids make a little sign/flag for their playhouse. Here's how I did it.

First, I made a pattern. It only works if you have a cool personalized ruler. Or not. But you can make it any size (or shape, I suppose!) you want.

I traced & ironed the pattern out. I wanted mine fairly small.

Next, I cut out my triangles (7 of them in white), along with the backing material. I didn't show pics of this, but I used yellow and blue. All of this was just fabric I had around.

As far as what to use to color on fabric, the sample from the Maya*made blog used fabric crayons & markers. I did go check out Michael's for fabric crayons. I didn't feel like paying $6 for them, or more for fabric markers. I decided Sharpies would work fine. And they did.They also did a great job of coloring on our hands, but what's art without a bit of mess!?!

So next, I had my super cute Little Men color on their flags. And even Little Miss Pink scribbled on one.

I particularly like the "Kids Only" one! Notice the tiny "sailboat" drawn on it as well. I have a pair of Picassos on my hands.

Next, I pinned the triangles together, wrong sides together.

Then, sewed each of the triangles. Terribly. You don't have to do it terribly, but I can't help myself.

Once the triangles/pennant pieces were sewn, I turned them right side out. Notice the beautiful Sharpie on my hands. Classic. Please, don't bombard me with requests to be a hand model. I'm already very busy.

At this point, if I were a perfectionist, I could have ironed all of the pennant pieces flat. I'm not. At least not in the sewing arena. So next, using single fold bias tape, I pinned all the pennant pieces in place along the bias tape,creating the line of pennants.

This step is a bit time consuming, particularly if you aren't of the "sewing" bend.
It does help if your "boss" monitors your progress while hurling animal crackers off of her tray and demanding that you do a good job. Whilst wearing her pajamas well after morning has come and gone.

Next, sew the pennants in place all along the binding, creating the pennant. I didn't photograph this step either, but you don't need to see me getting frustrated with the machine and cursing under my breath, wishing I would have paid more attention in the sewing portion of Home Ec.

Once the pennant was complete, I cut little strips of the scrap backing fabric (in yellow & blue) and tied the strips in between each pennant for a more rustic, cute look. Ta Da!!

Next, our Playhouse Pennant was ready to be hung! It was the last night of summer, the night before school started. We hung it up and ate Last Popsicles of the Summer. The boys love their "flag" as they call it. I love their drippy, sticky, smiley faces. Also, couldn't you just eat up the brotherly love & affection that was captured here? Click on the photo to capture the full effect.

They are quite proud of their new playhouse!
I'm proud of the fair-to-middling attempt at sewing.
Luckily, anything that has the kid-stamp on it with their artwork is
precious in my book.

I hope you agree!