the fabric of a sack or burlap, also called jute or hemp jacket, is a thick, rough and rustic-looking fabric that does not fraying a lot and gives a lot of play when it comes to making customes, crafts, decorations, etc.
Taking advantage of the fact that I have prepared some garlands for the birthday party we’ve done at home recently I leave you a tutorial if someone wants to try and do some. You can hold clues and put the ones you like best according to the occasion: a name, “Congratulations”, “Many years,” “Good New Year,” etc.
Material
- Jute fabric.
- Cotton fabric, for the letters.
- Double-sided interfacing.
- Jute cord.
- Scissors or rotary cutter.
- Sewing thread
- Soluble pen or fabric marker.
- Sewing machine.
- Iron.
- Computer and printer.
- Paper sheets.
Elaboration
1 – Cut the pennants
The first thing we have to do is to cut the pennants. We can choose the way we want. They are usually made of triangular or flag form. I have made them in the form of a 20 cm triangle and you can download the pattern to cut them here.
The best way to do this is to make a long stripe of 20 cm from the fabric and then using the pattern, printed on a sheet of paper and trimmed, cut the flags of the long trench we have made. We have to trim as many flags as letters we must do and one for the start and end and emptiness if we want.
2 – Stitching the pennants
The next step is to sew a bend on the top of each banner so that you can pass the cord inside and then hang them.
What I have done has been to bend 1.5 cm and iron it well so that the bent fabric is held and to sew it with the machine without difficulty.
Folded all the flags we cut the leftover to each upper band (the triangle of each part), we go to the sewing machine and with a thread of the same color of the fabric we made a backstitch 1 cm from the upper part reinforcing the start and the end because it will be where the thread will do more stress.
3 – Letters
To make the letters you can choose the way you like. My recommendation is with the computer to write the letters with a program with which you can then print (word, openoffice, …) to the size that we want them to stay on the pennants, I have made them 7 cm tall, although later I think they would have been better a little smaller. We print them to a sheet and cut it.
Then mark the letters, with the pattern trimmed before, on the good part of the fabric with a soluble pen in the water or the heater or a fabric marker. So we will know the surface of cloth we need.
Then, on the back of the cloth, we will need to brace double-sided interfaciong and then place the letters on the banners.
Cut out the letters, take the back paper of the interfacing and hold the letters on the pennants with the iron, as centered as possible.
4 – Put the cord
The last step is to pass a jute cord for the opening that we have sewn before in the flags.
A long needle can be used, but what I have done is to hold the cord to a woode stick with tape and move the thread through the pennants in order to mark the letters. Think of leaving a good section of yarn at the beginning and the end to hang out de garland.
And we’ve finished them! You see it is very simple and entertaining. You have no excuse for not decorating your parties and celebrations!!!
