DIY Felt Banner for Nursery Decor

This post was originally published on DIY Network’s blog Made + Remade in September 2013.

I began planning the decor for our to-be baby nursery knowing that I wanted a very bright space with white as the base wall color, and lots of colorful accents. The nursery only has one corner window, which means that it stays a little bit dark all day long, and bright walls would go a long way. The end result will be modern and sophisticated with a heavy emphasis on youthfulness. (If you’re looking for more inspiration, these sophisticated nurseries and nursery color schemes and decal ideas may be a good point of reference for you).

The felt banner that I’m creating here seemed like it would be the perfect fit for this plan — something that would provide a different texture than the colorful prints and pillows that I intend to add, something bright and customizable that would work for either a boy or a girl.

Step 1

Choose your felt. If you’ve ever browsed your local craft store’s fabric aisle, you’ll know already that felt colors runneth abundant, a full rainbow to choose from. I honed in on plain white for the base (1/2 yard), and an assortment of gold, old gold, tangerine, antique white, and yellow for the accent colors (just 1/8 yard each). Buying minimum quantities of the fabric keeps project costs and scrap materials to a minimum.

Pick up a dowel and a length of string while you’re out and about, too.

Step 2

Cut your felt to size. A banner can be any size (this is a very easy project to build to your own scale), but my white background was 17″ x 26″ (reduced to 16.5″ x 24″ with the finished piece) and each stripe 16″ x 4″.

Step 3

Use straight pins to secure your design, and the sewing machine to attach your accent stripes in place. Be sure to leave extra felt overhang at the top (2-3″) to wrap around the dowel for hanging, and an extra inch along each side because if you’re sewing, the felt may stretch a little bit. In my case, I had to go back and trim along the edge so it was nice to have excess on the sides. No sewing machine? Try hot glue, fabric glue, or no-sew bonding adhesive. If I were to do this again, I would go another route myself.

Step 4

Cut the dowel to length (mine hangs out 1/2″ on either side), and sew a narrow sleeve (or glue!) to hold it tight. Your string for hanging the banner can be tied to each end.