More Fall Decoration - Torn Fabric Banner

 

My faux mantel still needed something.  Behold the banner!

 

These torn fabric banners are all over blogland and Pinterest because they are so cool,  so easy to make and no fancy new supplies are needed.

I started with 3 strands of heavy twine for the swag base. and knotted off about 10 inches on either side to hang down the side of my window frame.  You could use lots of things instead of twine - thin rope, wire, even an old fabric belt and probably lots of other things.

 

I looked through my fabric box for some with  fall flair.  Not gonna lie, if The Captain hadn't somehow  managed to take  both sets of car keys to work, I might have been temped to make an  emergency trip to Joanne's for more fabric.  I found some  off-white cotton and a few prints I had used bought for a previous project.

 

 

Now the fun part - ripping!  Cut a small slit to start, then rip your fabric into strips.  OCD types will want to measure, but I'm not that into precise measurement, so I  made the strips about an inch and a half apart, resulting in strips about that wide.  Grab the fabric on either side of the slit and rip - the fabric will tear in a straight line.  The sound of tearing fabric is so satisfying and pretty sure it's therapeutic as well!

 

Tear up your fabric until you have a generous pile of strips.  I find that projects like this  always take more fabric that you'd expect.  My banner is about 2 1/2 feet long and it took about 45 strips to cover the twine.  You want the strips close together, but it's no problem if some of the "line" shows through - just plan on having the color of the line work with your fabric choices so it won't be too noticeable.

 

Pull off as many of the long threads from all that tearing.  We're going for shabby here, but not messy nest of tangled threads.  We shabby- lovers do have our standards.

 

Then cut the strips.  I wanted the strips to be  slightly uneven , so I didn't measure the length precisely - I did more or less 10 inches, making sure there were some longer and some shorter.  Obviously if you like a more organized look, measure so all your strips are the same length.

 

Now the knotting fun begins.  You can tie these on in a couple of ways. You could fold the fabric in half and just  tie it onto the line with a knot in the center.  Or you could attach the strips to the line with what I now know is called a Lark's Head Knot - you know, the kind you use to attach fibers to a tag.  Fold the fabric in half, place the loop behind the line, then pull the two ends over the line and through the loop.  (Better  real directions are here).

 

 

Just keep knotting on strips until you're satisfied with how your banner looks.  I like a full look, so crammed on as many strips as I could.

 



 

Already thinking about making one for Christmas.