A Heraldic Banner

After attending an event this past weekend I decided that I needed to make myself a heraldic banner. So, with no pattern and no clue I set off for the fabric store to buy what I needed. I spent $17 on fabric and heat and bond, everything else I had at home.

Materials

3/4 yards red cotton fabric

1/4 yard gold cotton fabric

2 packages double wide folded bias tape

1/2 yard heat and bond late

pen

clip art

light box

thread

scissors

To begin with, I called my friend Bekah for help. She explained to me to wash the fabric. Since the fabric is red I washed in on hot with a little bit of detergent and a cup of vinegar to help set in the color. Then I dried it on super hot to make it shrink, then ironed it flat.

Next folded the fabric in half and duct taped it to the side of my refrigerator. Using MS Word clip art I found my heraldic charges, printed them out and taped them to the fabric in their proper places. Eyeballing how I wanted it to look I cut down the sides of the cloth and the banner's "tails". After that I removed the paper charges and sewed up the sides of the banner on my humble macine. After turning the banner inside out I tossed it back into the washer and dryer for another run, then I ironed it flat.

Last time I tried to do fabric painting in a large area it was a disaster, so I decided to appliqué my charges on using Double Sided Heat and Bond Lite. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have gotten the heavy duty heat and bond that didn't require sewing afterwards, but this is what the lady at the fabric store told me I should get.

I followed the instructions and applied the heat and bond to one side of my gold fabric. Then I tossed it and my clip art onto the light box. I traced the charges in reverse onto the paper side of the heat and bonded fabric then I simply followed the outline and cut them out.

I arranged the charges into their proper places on the banner, then I ironed down the appliqués and peeled away the paper to reveal the banner you see to the right.

It's coming together and at this stage it's finally looking like a heraldic banner. My charges are in place, held loosely with the heart and bond but not all of the little corners are holding as well as I would like. This is the point where I decided that I should have gotten the heavy duty heat and bond.

Next I'll paint or sew down the edges and add some artistic detail to the charges.

Well, after painting in the borders and the details I thought everything was going great with the banner, then I went and ruined it.

The paint that I outlined things in turned out to be a velveteen puff paint, so when I went to set it with the iron, it went from a smooth black, to a puffy grey. Yuck.

I also don't look how the bias tape around the edge looks at all. It was much cleaner looking without it. Unfortunately I can't just take it off as my original seems weren't that great.

All in all it looks just fine from about 10 feet away, and I'll use it until I make myself a new one. It was a good learning experience, and I now know what NOT to do. :-)