Pennant chains are a very popular decoration for children’s birthday parties and other celebrations. But it can be quite time-consuming to find the right fabrics, lay out the pattern, mark it and cut it out.
You can shorten the whole process with ready-to-use pennant panels and, if you want, you can also combine existing fabric leftovers.
My pennant chain panels at Lillestoff make 15 pennants measuring approx. 15cm wide and 23cm high. All parts can be combined as you wish and, as mentioned above, can also be combined with other fabrics to make the chain even longer. The given 15 pennants result in a length of 3.70m with a pennant distance of 10cm.
In addition, I would add 1m bias tape each on the left and right for hanging and tying.
Materials required for 15 pennants:
- 1 panel (for the Halloween Designs follow this link to Lillestoff)
- 5.70m bias tape made of cotton or satin, either bought ready-made or sewn from scraps.
- Machine sewing thread
There are various ways to sew the pennants.
- Nice edges
- Cut out the pieces and sew two pennants right sides together, leaving the top edge open.
- Trim the bottom tip.
- Turn the pennant inside out and shape the tip from the inside using a wooden stick or knitting needle.
- Topstitch the edges if you like.
2. Quick and Dirty
- Cut out the pieces.
- Sew the pieces wrong sides together with matching or nicely contrasting sewing thread using a zigzag stitch or overlock.
- Or use the standard step stitch and trim the edges with zigzag scissors.
Finishing the pennant chain
Start after the first metre of bias tape and sew the pennants onto the bias tape at 10 cm intervals.
There are also two options for sewing the pennants to the bias tape:
- Either sew the pennants to the first fold of the bias, then fold the bias and topstitch.
- Or place the pennants between the folded bias, pin them in place (clips work best) and topstitch all in one go (quicker than the first option ;- )).
Have fun sewing and decorating – and of course celebrating – and if you post your pennant chain on Instagram, I’d love it if you tagged me @andreamuehlbauer and I’d be happy to share your post in my story.
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