A Birthday Banner

Adding a festive birthday note to our space!

For Brother-Bug's first birthday I dug deep into the scrap bin and made The Birthday Banner. This banner has been hung at all our family birthdays since then, and will continue to be hung as we all grow and change. When Sister-Bug was born, one of Brother-Bug's jobs was to hang the banner with help from one of his birth attendants.

A quick Google search reveals that similar banners are between $10-$90. However, if you have basic sewing skills, a banner is very easy to make.

The middle three flags - so scrappy!

Our banner has white felt for the flags. I cut triangles about 6 inches wide and 9 inches tall.

Each flag is bound in bias tape - I used the scraps from my bias tape box. You will need about 9 yards of bias tape.

I added another stripe of ribbon, tic-rack, or other trim to each flag, following the line of the bias tape. Again, I used scraps I had in my trim box - another 8-9 yards total.

There are 16 flags on our banner. Three have star appliqués, one to start, one between the two words, and one to finish. The other thirteen have the letters of happy birthday zig-zagged on. Here is where the scrap bin is particularly important. The scraps that form the letters are our scraps. Here is Brother-Bug's baby sun hat... There is Papa-Bug's favorite Hawaiian shirt that tore... This used to be a skirt of Mama's... And so on. I cut the letters freehand and used some fixative so they wouldn't wiggle as I zig-zagged them on.

Close up of the binding construction.

I found some gold star buttons in the button box and sewed them on various flags, putting the big one in the middle.

Finally, I took a wide ribbon (2-3 inches) that was about 5 yards long and carefully bound it over the tops of the flags and getting all the flags in a row. Now the banner is basically complete. I sewed long lengths of 1/8 inch ribbon on each end to tie it up.

Our banner is now into its 5th year, and 15th birthday (or somewhere around that). It's still lovely. The kids adore it. Papa-Bug and I like to sneak the night before a birthday and put it up so the birthday person sees it first thing at breakfast.

It's one of those little things that makes a birthday extra special in our house.

Re-Covering A Chair

We had this chair. It had been a fairly comfortable chair with a washable cover, until I washed the cover and it shrank so much it was unusable. We couldn't even fit the cushion in, let alone properly fix it to the chair frame.

Take one not-so-special chair...

But recently we upgraded our bed, and had an extra queen size memory foam mattress topper. I contemplated for a while, made my design, and construction began.

First we measured and cut the foam to fit the chair.

Papa-Bug and Brother-Bug work on the cutting.

Next, I covered the foam cushion with an old sheet, to protect the foam itself. I sewed this on to the cushion and it can't be removed.

Already looking better - certainly feeling more comfortable!

Finally, I found some fun fabric and made a washable (non-shrinking) cover for the whole thing. I used zippers to fasten the arm pieces under the chair. I think the zippers will pull more evenly. We will see about that - so far it's working well.

Now THAT'S a chair I want to sit in!

I also added a small pouch off the right arm, to hold books, knitting, or other useful items. So far everyone is a huge fan.

See the pouch off the side? They filled it with board books and read together for a while.

And thanks to Sister-Bug's recent gastronomic adventures, I already got to road test the washable feature! The arm covers make it really comfortable for nursing.

Daisy thinks we did this just for her. Actually, I used the leftover foam, another old sheet, and an old fleece throw to make her a special dog bed.

Papa-Bug says we should call it the Twitter Chair. Sister-Bug calls it the Bird Chair and doesn't like to share it with Daisy. I like that it adds some charm and whimsy to our living room, and is no longer a piece of half-finished furniture looking awkward and less than comfortable.