Pepper Design Blog

Project Nursery: No Sew Fabric Pennant

Hope you had a great weekend with all of the dads and granddads in your life! I hope to post a few photos of ours soon.

Crossing my fingers you haven’t seen enough of it… but I wanted to revisit a little project that you might have spotted during the nursery reveal – it’s easy to miss in the larger room photos but here’s a close up.

I’ve been looking for creative ways to incorporate the remaining fabrics from the initial nursery fabric selection (and here’s the line up before we knew whether we were having a boy or girl) from over 4 months ago, and I thought a little set of pennants (or flags) would be a great way to introduce different fun patterns while staying within the room’s color palette.

To keep the project short and simple, I turned to my trusty no sew hem tape. One hour later and the pennant strand went from squares of extra fabric to finished!

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No Sew Fabric Pennants

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Materials: Fabric remnants, no sew hem tape, iron and ironing board, scissors, ribbon the length of your final set of ‘flags’

{1.} Cut triangles (two long even sides, one short top) out of fabric, keep in mind the size of each hem and cut your triangles roughly 1/2″ wider on each side.

{2.} Fold each side of the triangle creating a 1/2″ hem, iron to create a crease that stays put. Tempting as it may be, don’t skip over this step – it makes adhering the hem tape and creating a clean, straight edge for your pennants 10x easier.

{3.} Use hem tape to line the inside of the two longer portions of the triangle, apply heat of the iron for at least 10 seconds to each side (moving iron back and form slowly over crease) to create a permanent adhesive. The bottom corner of the two longest sides may require a bit of layering of the hems to look even. Leave the top hem open.

{4.} Once each flag or pennant has been ironed and hemmed (on the two longer sides of the triangle), line up pennants along your ribbon to create your pattern layout. Flip over (you may want to mirror your trial run exactly or you may be fine with giving each single pennant a direct face as I did below) and line the ribbon up along the top edge of each pennant.

{5.} Snip extra corner pieces for a clean look.

{6.} With each pennant individually, fold the previously created top crease (step 2) over the ribbon so that the fabric crease now sandwiches the ribbon in place. Add hem tape to each side of ribbon and press with an iron. Repeat for each pennant moving slowly down the ribbon.

{5.} Now that each pennant is secured to the ribbon, flip over and hang!

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Really really love how it turned out! It also looks adorable tied to the front of the crib and will make a great addition to a birthday party or other event one day.

Fabric pennants are a really easy way to use up remnants of fabric that you have left over from other projects, and with hem tape it takes just an hour or so to iron together a short little line of adorable flags.

More Project Nursery posts and tutorials over here.

Now really, truly, honestly back to focusing on other rooms in the house , big sigh of relief for those of you who are done with seeing every angle of this space!

Project Nursery: Creative Clothing Art

Hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!

We had a great weekend full of relaxing and fun. I am reminded on holidays such as this though of the sacrifices that our men and women in uniform make each and every day for us. Kevin spent four years serving as a Marine and two of them while married. In fact, our first six months of marriage were spent apart because of a sudden deployment to Japan. I’m grateful that he was never in harms way and I am especially grateful for the servicemen that are. I commiserate with spouses and families that have to be away from a loved one for an extended period of time…

Back to what’s been going on over here decorating-wise: here’s a neat little project that I’ve been working on to create nursery art out of favorite gifts and keepsake clothing.

I have a few adorable outfits that are almost too cute to wear (almost) and when placed inside of a frame, make the perfect wall art.

To add a twist, the back of the frame is lined in a modern print – gives it a little something extra.

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Clothing Art

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Materials: shadow box or deep frame (mine is from Aaron Brothers – 40% off coupon!), fabric remnant, art to feature (clothing, handmade baby blanket, etc), map pins or sewing pins, glue

{1.} I found a square frame at Aaron Brothers that fit my little swim suit perfectly. It was built like a shadow box and deep enough to allow the suit to be pinned inside without coming too far out of the frame when mounted.

{2.} Fabric remnants or samples are great for a project just like this (I chose Gabriel in putty by Thibaut Designs). Measure your frame and cut out a square two inches wider on each side to allow for an extra large hem. 

{3.} Flip frame over and remove backing, cardboard, mat and glass. Line up cardboard insert directly over fabric cutout (make sure back of fabric is facing up). Save mat and glass for another project, set backing aside.

Using standard glue, line the edge of the cardboard with a thick line.

 {4.} Fold over each edge of fabric, gluing corners as you go. The geometric print on my fabric helped to make sure that my design was straight on the reverse side, you may want to flip over to confirm before gluing into place. Don’t worry if your adhesive doesn’t hold 100%, the next step will ensure the fabric doesn’t move.

{4.}  Press cardboard and fabric firmly into the back of your frame, the fit should be snug.

{5.} Press frame backing into place.

{6.} Using sewing or map pins (which can be found at office supply stores such as Staples), attach garment to fabric/cardboard combination. I cut my pins to about half their length to really conceal them within the bathing suit.

Pin various edges of the clothing so that the final piece is securely against the frame when hung up.

{7.} And that’s it – now you can hang or display!

This would look very neat as a collage of antique outfits (baptismal gowns, handmade baby caps, etc) over a dresser, or as cute, modern accessories (booties, hats, etc) lined up in a row of three down the wall.

It’s an easy, inexpensive way to display favorite baby items and gifts, and it’s a great way to personalize a nursery. I love this little bathing suit (a gift from my Aunt) and I love how it looks perched atop Liv’s bookcase!

Woah this is getting long. It’s about time I get some final room pics posted. More Project Nursery posts: handmade butterfly mobile, diy crib skirt, basket liners part 2, basket liners part 1, the great glider makeover, sewing the curtains part 1, part 2, part 3, nursery fabric board, curtain fabric selection, rocking horse find, new pendant light, new sconce lighting, vintage wall art addition, changing table makeover, nursery wall striping tutorial, painted animal project, the initial inspiration board and the before picture posts.

Wrapping Up the New Kitchen: Zig Zag Fun

If you’ve been around for a bit you know that we built a kitchen out of a dated den in the back of the house (which actually used to be a master bedroom). Kevin spent much of his summer/fall last year tearing up walls, installing cabinets, tiling backsplashes and plastering/painting – and we LOVE our new space! Scouring sales, taking full advantage of promotional codes and becoming Craigslist addicts helped to make it all possible (that and a whole lotta sweat equity).

The kitchen has sat for over six months at 90% complete – it’s functional, it’s beautiful and there’s little motivation to get that last 10% done. But this past week we’re about 5% closer!

One of the new updates is new cushions for the barstools (a Craigslist find – I think the stools may have originally been from World Market):

A decorative element missing from the space included a few complimentary and contemporary patterns.

A year or so ago I came across a pattern that I dogeared in magazine after magazine… and when I found inspiration filled with it again earlier this year the images popped back into my mind.

You know when you just can’t shake something? This was one of those things.

What’s similar between all of these rooms?

A classic zig zag print! I love the simplicity of the basic but modern zig zag pattern. Premade cushions weren’t an option (the stools are an awkard size) and so I began sketching out cushion shapes (box vs knife edge vs french) that would fit evenly on a one yard piece of fabric (all three cushions) and finally took the plunge and ordered just one yard of Petite Zig Zag by Alan Campbell for Quadrille from Pacific Design Center (great resource for traditionally to-the-trade fabrics). Knife edge ended up winning out because it required a simple sandwich-style seam (like a pillow) as opposed to welting, edging, etc. and three could be sewn with one simple yard.

It arrived and it’s beautiful! A few invisible zippers (more to come + a tutorial) and several seams later and the bar stools have a brand new look.

I’ve always been a fan of adding bits and pieces of modern and contemporary (maybe even trendy?) pieces to a room in the right quantity. A remnant or fabric sample is a great way to achieve that at a fraction of the price. To make projects like this even cheaper, purchase the foam insert from a discount fabric shop (I chose a thin foam because our bar stools are high – choose a thick, sturdy foam if going for a box-style of cushion) and sew the pieces together yourself (OR find a reasonably priced seamstress such as at a dry cleaning shop).

The cushions add a new something to the space – love that.

More den to kitchen posts here: days 1-6, 7-12, 13-19, 20-28, 29-30, plus the inspiration board and ‘before’ pictures.