Happy Friday, DTLB Readers! I’m Angela, from Blue i Style, where I blog about my love of all things pretty and modern – from home décor and organizing, to DIY and crafts. I’m so excited to be back today sharing my second contributor post.
I’ll admit that for all of the artsy and craftsy things that I’m pretty good at, my sewing skills are very rudimentary! A while back my mom made me a set of chalkboard fabric pennants to create banners for different holidays and celebrations. When she recently showed me how to make them, I thought – “now that’s a sewing project simple enough that even I could do it!” And if I can do it, then anyone can!
I’m so excited to show you how easy it is to make reusable chalkboard pennants that you can write on and wipe off over and over to decorate for any special occasion or season! This post contains some affiliate links. Click here to read my full disclosure policy.
Materials Needed for a Chalkboard Banner:
- Blackboard Fabric (available from JoAnn Fabric and Crafts – 27.5” wide, $4.99/yard)
- Fabric Cutting Ruler
- 8” 60 degree Triangle Cutter
- Cutting Mat
- Rotary Cutter
- Rotary Pinking Blade
*If you don’t own a cutting mat and rotary cutters, you could instead use a pen to mark the triangles on the back of the fabric, then cut them with scissors. Pinking shears could be used in place of a rotary pinking blade. - Sewing Machine
- Black Thread
- One Wrap Velcro
- Regular Chalk or Chalk Markers
Chalkboard Banner Tutorial:
Step 1. Cutting Chalkboard Fabric
Begin by cutting an 8 inch strip of chalkboard fabric. If you have a cutting ruler, cutting mat, and a rotary cutter, this ensures a nice, straight, clean cut. But if you don’t have these supplies, you can simply cut with scissors taking care to get very straight lines.
Then lay your 8 inch strip of fabric on your cutting mat and place an 8″ 60 degree Triangle Cutter on top. Use a rotary cutter to cut the first triangle, then flip the Triangle Cutter over and cut another.
Continue cutting triangles until you have reached the end of your strip of fabric. You will need two triangles per pennant, so continue cutting as many 8″ strips and as many triangles as necessary, depending on the number of pennants you would like to create.
With all of your triangles of chalkboard fabric cut, begin pairing up the triangles, placing two back to back. You will likely find that they don’t line up exactly, but that's ok and we’ll address it in a later step.
Step 2. Cutting Velcro Strips
Now unroll a length of One Wrap Velcro, and cut it into two inch strips. You will need one piece of Velcro for each pennant that you make.
This Velcro sticks to itself when it’s wrapped around, making it perfect for this project, as I'll show you later!
Step 3. Sewing the Chalkboard Pennants Together
Now you are ready to begin sewing your chalkboard pennants. Take one pair of triangles {laid back to back}, and fold them in half to quickly find the top center.
Then unfold the triangles and place one piece of Velcro on top of the triangles, with the top edge of the Velcro aligned with the top edge of the triangles.
Using black thread, sew around the triangles, stitching the Velcro in place as you go, leaving about a quarter of an inch seam allowance around all edges.
Step 4. Use a Pinking Blade to Trim the Edges of the Pennants
Now that the pennants are sewn together, it’s time use a rotary pinking blade to clean up the edges that may not line up perfectly. Lay the pennant on your cutting mat and place a cutting ruler on top of the fabric to give you a straight edge to cut against. Then use a pinking rotary cutter to trim off the very edges of the triangles.
The pinked edges make the chalkboard pennants extra cute! Just be very careful not to cut into any of the seams!
If you do not own a pinking rotary cutter, you can instead use a pair of pinking shears, so long as they are nice and sharp. Do not attempt to use pinking shears that have previously been used to cut paper, as paper quickly dulls scissors and dull scissors do not cut fabric well.
You’re chalkboard pennants are now complete and ready for use!
TIP: Preparing the Pennants for Use with Chalk
Chalkboard fabric {or blackboard fabric as it may be called, depending on where you purchase it} can be used with regular chalk, or with chalk markers. If you are going to use your pennants with regular chalk, you must first prime the fabric by rubbing the side of a piece of chalk over the entire surface, then wipe off the chalk with a soft cloth. Failing to prime the chalkboard fabric may result in the chalk becoming permanent.
If instead you plan to write on the pennants with chalk markers {my preferred method}, you don’t need to prime the fabric with chalk before use.
TIP: Cleaning Chalk Markers Off of the Chalkboard Pennants
You can simply wipe away the chalk markers with a damp cloth, but I have found a Magic Eraser to work best. Simply dampen the Magic Eraser to erase the writing, then use a dry paper towel to wipe away the excess. If any residue remains, simply repeat the process.
I would recommend cleaning off the pennants immediately after each use, but even when I’ve left the chalk marker writing on my pennants for months at a time, I’ve never had any trouble erasing the writing. When you first wipe off the pennants, you may notice a faint shadow of the writing remains {as you may be able to see in the photo below}, but that shadow quickly fades away.
HANGING YOUR CHALKBOARD PENNANT BANNER
Once you’ve written your message on the chalkboard pennants, all that’s left to do is to hang your banner with coordinating ribbon or twine. Because the One-Wrap Velcro sticks to itself, just wrap the Velcro around the ribbon or string, press it together, and it will hold securely.
You can hang your pennants as far apart of close together as you want, and they can easily be adjusted after hanging by simply sliding them from side to side along the ribbon. This makes it quick and easy to get your banner centered and hanging just the way you want it.
I use my chalkboard fabric pennants to create banners just about any time we are hosting a celebration!
I often hang my chalkboard banner in front of a wall, but I love that the pennants are double-sided – so there is no right and wrong side. That means that if I wanted to hang the banner along a railing, or between two trees for an outdoor party, I could easily write on both sides of the pennants for added effect!
Here’s a quick look at a few of the other ways I’ve used my chalkboard fabric pennants to create banners for various holidays…
The 4th of July is right around the corner, and lots of us will be celebrating with outdoor barbecues and picnics. I spelled out “STARS AND STRIPES” on my chalkboard pennants and strung my banner up in our backyard.
I also made a quick and easy flag inspired centerpiece for the 4th of July. You can find the full tutorial for this candle-filled light centerpiece on my blog.
For Halloween last year, I spelled out “TRICK OR TREAT” and hung the banner above the fireplace in our kitchen. If you’re already looking forward to Halloween, you can check out my full Halloween Home Tour, complete with lots of fun seasonal DIYs.
At Christmas, we set up our tree in our basement family room, one end of which is our boys' play area. Last year, I strung the chalkboard pennants up above the boys’ toys and spelled out “NAUGHTY OR NICE” as a cute little reminder that they needed to be good if they wanted to open those presents under the tree! If you want to start pinning some fun DIY Christmas décor ideas to refer back to when the holidays draw near, you’ll find lots of them in our Christmas Home Tour.
You're likely to find lots of of paper chalkboard banner options at craft and party supply stores, but, for the most part, these paper banners are really one use only. What I love about my fabric chalkboard banner is that I can use it over and over again! I also like that I can use as many or as few of the pennants as I need to spell out my message, and they are virtually indestructible!
Last year, I hung a chalkboard banner in the backyard for my son’s first birthday party. The weather was forecast to be nice, but right before the party started, a huge storm moved though with crazy amounts of rain and hail. We quickly brought as many of the decorations as we could into the house, but some – including the chalkboard banner – got left out in the rain until after the storm ended.
But all I had to do was wipe the pennants down and lay them flat to dry, and they were good as new!
Thanks so much to Tasha for letting me share my chalkboard pennant banner with you today! I’ll be back in a few months with another fun project! In the meantime, feel free to connect with me over on my blog or on social media:
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