How to Make a Cross Stitch Banner

I grew up Catholic, and I remember when we did our first communion each child had a banner with their name and some religious symbols or other things on it, and for some reason that’s what this cross stitch banner project reminded me of.

Your cross stitch banner doesn’t have to go on display in a church or anywhere else out in public. Depending on the content of the stitching you’re turning into a banner, it would be super cute in a kid’s bedroom or playroom, or even in your office.

Hannah Hand Makes used a large stitchalong project to make her banner. You could do that (I love the idea of a Halloween or Christmas themed stitchalong being hung in this way as part of your decorations), or you could use a sampler project or even combine a bunch of patterns of similar sizes together to make a piece big enough to be a banner.

And really, just because this one is kind of large doesn’t mean yours has to be. A little cross stitch banner with a child’s name on it would be adorable hanging from their doorknob or above the light switch in their room. And talking of having a banner in your office, I envision a merit badge style banner with a bit of snark (like: survived another meeting that should have been an email).

Clearly there are a lot of different options here, and the instructions Hannah gives for how to make a banner out of a cross stitch project will work no matter what size project you’re working on. A giant temperature cross stitch? A bunting full of minis? Your wedding announcement or baby’s birth announcement? All are fair game.

Check out the tutorial for how to make your own cross stitch banner at Hannah Hand Makes.

[Photo: Hannah Hand Makes]

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35+ Sunflower Cross Stitch Patterns

I recently wrote a post on my blog about using a stitchable journal cover and I mentioned that you can make your own stitched cover for a journal by using perforated paper instead of buying a stitchable notebook.

I have to admit, though, that I’ve never used perforated paper for cross stitch myself. I definitely want to because I think it would be great to use for bookmarks that don’t fray and have a little more stability, for example.

Sirious Stitches has us covered, though, because they did a deep dive into all things perforated cross stitch pattern that is worth the time to read through.

The post mentions that a lot of people use perforated paper for cross stitch because they buy an ornament kit that uses it. I’ve never seen these (or at least never noticed that that is what they were) but it’s a great idea to make small projects like ornaments in this way. It also talks about the pros and cons of using cross stitch paper, where to buy it and how to make your own.

Making it yourself is an awesome idea because if you already have a pattern in mind you can just make holes in your paper where you need stitches to be and leave the rest solid. This would be ideal for making greeting cards, for example.

In addition to kits and sheets you can often find the paper pre-cut into different shapes you can use to make your own designs, no real pattern required.

The post also includes tips and advice for how to stitch on perforated paper that you’ll want to check out before you try your first project.

I’m super intrigued by the idea of using perforated paper for cross stitch and will probably be trying it out soon. Have you used it before? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Check out the post over at Sirious Stitches for more information.

[Photo: Sirious Stitches]

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