I’ve been totally immersed in planning our daughter Sara’s baby shower the past few weeks. I’ve had so much fun making the decorations, choosing recipes, and coming up with ideas that would make it a fun and happy occasion for everyone attending.
I plan to do a week’s worth of blog posts about our little event, since I know most of you will love seeing all the details. Some of my guy readers may want to tune out this week – I’m warning you, this will be very girl-y!
Since Sara has chosen blue and green as her nursery colors, I went with that for the baby shower colors, too. Luckily, my living room and dining room are decorated in the same colors, so I had the perfect backdrop for the party. I spent a few hours online, searching for baby shower ideas, but found very little to inspire me. I wanted something sweet and cute, but not typical, and was having a hard time finding it until I came across the Domestic Fashionista blog and saw her adorable party banners. I loved the idea, but gave it my own touch by using a variety of patterned fabrics rather than paper. Yay! I finally had a theme/motif that I could build the rest of the decorations around!
First we had to construct the pennants. I bought a variety of checked, striped and polka dot fabrics from the baby section at Jo-Ann Fabrics, along with about 20 yards of Pellon Wonder Under fusible web. My mom volunteered to help, so I put her to work making bias strips of a solid blue fabric to turn into double fold bias tape. Meanwhile, I fused fabric yardage together so that my pennants would be pretty on both sides when they were hanging. I used a wavy blade in my rotary cutter to cut out all of the triangles for the pennants, then stitched them to the bias strips. (See below for step-by-step instructions.)
The pennants strung across the living room had blue circles with letters spelling out “BUNDLE OF JOY” and “SWEET BABY BOY”. It gave the rooms such a festive, party feel!
Black and white photos were cut into 2″ circles and adhered with double stick tape to the flower centers, which were then hot glued to the top of the stems. Preserved moss covers the floral foam and adds a finished look to the diminutive flower pots.
The baby shower games were challenging, but the prizes made it all worthwhile – if you were the one who was lucky enough to win!
Everyone from 80 year old grandmothers to 4 year old cousins joined in the fun.
As a take-home favor, each guest was given a bag of my homemade toffee to enjoy on the way home.
Tomorrow I’ll be telling you all about the yummy food I served at the shower. Be prepared for some great recipes coming up!
And now for the instructions I promised …
– Lay out a large piece of fabric wrong side up.
– Lay Wonder Under on top of fabric, paper side up.
– Fuse the Wonder Under to the fabric by ironing with a hot iron, according to manufacturer’s directions. (It is important to hold the iron in place for at least 5-8 seconds to thoroughly melt the fusible onto the fabric.)
– Peel away the paper layer.
– Lay another piece of fabric on top of the fusible and smooth it carefully.
– Iron thoroughly to bond all three layers together.
– Decide on the size of your pennants.
– Draw temporary cutting lines on fused fabric with a pen that contains air-disappearing ink
– For wavy lines, use a pinking blade in a rotary cutter to cut on marked lines. For straight lines, use a regular rotary cutter blade or scissors.
– Decide on the finished length of your banners. Allow extra at the ends for tying or fastening.
– Make or buy double fold bias tape. My strips were cut 2″ wide to give a finished 1/2″ bias tape.
– Lay bias tape and pennants out on a table. Dot glue along the inside of the bias tape. (I use fringe adhesive or Tacky Glue.)
– Dot glue along top edge of pennants.
– Place pennants on bias tape and fold down the bias to enclose the pennants.
– Allow glue to dry. Press with a warm iron to speed up the drying process.
– Machine stitch along the edge of the bias to hold the pennants in place.
– Trace circles onto paper side of Wonder Under.
– Fuse Wonder Under to wrong side of fabric.
– Cut out circles on marked lines.
– Peel away paper and fuse fabric circle to pennant.
– Print out lettering in the desired size on paper, using a computer and printer.
– Trace each letter MIRROR IMAGE onto Wonder Under.
– Fuse Wonder Under to wrong side of fabric.
– Cut out letters on traced lines.
– Peel away paper and fuse fabric letters in the center of the circles.
7 Comments
I see that taste is not out of fashion. The decorations are very inviting and everything is lively without being flashy.
Everything is just perfect! You are going to be a wonderful grandma! 🙂
This would make me want to have a baby! Sooo darling! Great job!
Blessings,
Lana @ ilovemy5kids
I am totally speechless!!! Everything was beautiful and it was such a treat looking through all of the pictures! Thanks for sharing!!!
Bobbie K (a fellow drapery lady and big fan!)
Leslie, I know how long it took to cut out all those little things (numbers, clothing, pennants) b/c I've done them for kids rooms. What beautiful keepsakes and memories you have created for Sarah.
And your Mom…. she outdid herself with that quilt! Hello Saundra.. nice work!! 🙂
Definitely not an 'everyday' baby shower. Your creativity is amazing Leslie. You are going to have so much fun with that grandbaby boy. Congratulations !
If you think the pictures are beautiful….it was even more beautiful in person! It was very lovely Leslie!