DIY Fall Burlap Banner

A few days ago, I was browsing Etsy, looking for cute home décor pieces I could use while decorating for fall.  I saw a fall burlap banner that I really loved, but I couldn’t justify spending $25 plus shipping for a few pieces of burlap attached to a piece of twine.  So I decided to try my hand at making one for myself.  I headed off to Hobby Lobby and found a piece of burlap remnant that I got for $2.65, a roll of thin brown velvet ribbon for $1.00, some brown acrylic paint for 99 cents, and a two pack of burlap rosettes for $3.00.  I came home and did a quick Google search for making a burlap banner, which led me to a tutorial at JustSew Sassy.  Unfortunately, I did not have any stencils for letters, and I do not own (nor know how to operate) a sewing machine.  So I got crafty...  

After making a rough template for my pennant shape from a piece of copy paper, I cut out my 4 pieces of burlap pennants.  Next, I used Word to find a typeface that I liked and printed off the letters for FALL in a large print.  (I used plain old Times New Roman font).  Once I was pleased with the size of the letters in ratio to the pennants, I placed the letter underneath my burlap pennant.

 Because the weave of burlap is so loose, I was able to see through the fabric and could “trace” my letter using an old ink pen and my brown acrylic paint.  

 Once I had the shape outlined, I painted in the remainder of my letter using a small paint brush.  Eventually, the pennants looked like this:

Once all four letters were painted, I allowed them to dry for about 30 minutes.  The acrylic paint dries pretty quickly.  Next, I grabbed my hot glue gun to assemble my banner.  I spread my ribbon out on a flat surface (my kitchen counter) and played around with the spacing of the pennants.   

When I was happy with the spacing, I flipped them over (right side down) on the counter.  I put a bead of hot glue across the top of each pennant, and then glued the back of the ribbon (velvet side up) to the pennants. Next, I placed another bead of glue directly beneath the ribbon, then folded the top of each pennant down, creating a semi-hem for the banner.  Once the pennants were secured to the ribbon, I flipped it over and TA-DA... I had a decent looking fall burlap banner! 

To finish it off, I simply glued the burlap rosettes to the ends of the banner.  

 Finally, it was time to enjoy my work. 

I just love my banner!!

Mantel is still in progress :)

I must say I think my DIY banner looks pretty great as a part of my fall mantle.  And considering that it only cost me $7.64 for the supplies, I saved a good bit of money by doing this project myself.  Score!  This project definitely goes in the “winning” file!

Thanks for stopping by!
- Gina