Patch Banner

Dear Friends,

I was recently inspired by something my mother-in-law made for my husband as a child. Everywhere they traveled, they got patches or pins as a souvenir, and in order to create a way to store and display them, she made him a banner. I have copied her pattern for my own patches, pins, and mementos.

Garment Data:
- Type: Patch display banner
- Date made: September 2016
- Pattern: Anne's design
- Fabric/Materials: 3/4 yard felt, cut to a 23" width, dowel, ball-shaped dowel ends
- Trim: Ribbon, braided cord made out of embroidery floss
- Time to finish: 1 hour?

The completed banner. I have it folded in quarters and just basted onto the rod, so that as I fill it up from the bottom, I can lengthen it (this is also in the original design!).

The items on here are: several civil war style cockades and several trinkets that are used to identify that a reenactor has paid the entrance fee for an event. I have patches too, but haven't found which box they are currently in!

Detail of the ribbon I attached by hand stitching. I finished the ends with Fray-Check. And I cut the bottom of the banner into a point (like my husbands) but instead of adding a fringe like his, I cut a fringe of about 2" or 2-1/2" long.

Detail of the dowel, dowel end, braided cord, and basting stitches.

As I hinted on Facebook, I am also working on adapting a t-shirt. I hope to make that the next post but didn't finish it this week.

Thanks to Anne for her inspiration and  design for this banner!

Most sincerely yours,
~ Sarah

Dark Hatbox

Hello lads and lasses!

The other night I decorated a hatbox, which I intend to use to store a mourning bonnet. Which I have not yet made, but that will come...
At any rate, I needed a second hatbox and decided to use a darker color scheme to match what I know I will be storing in it.

Garment Project Data:
- Type: Hatbox, purchased at a craft store. It is cardboard.
- Date made: September 2016
- Pattern: none. I just decorated a purchased box
- Fabric/Materials: Paper napkins, tissue paper, ModPodge
- Trim: ribbon (satin and sheer)
- Time to finish: several hours (most of a day?), including drying time.

The completed hat box with the lid perched on a pail to dry.

And the closed view.

Detail of the lid. This oak leaf is one I found outside, already skeletal and beautiful.

The lid has a base of 2 layers of white tissue paper, then the oak leaf. I then added Money Plant seed pods around the outside.

The side of the lid has 2 bands of ribbon, over the white tissue paper.

The box is done in black tissue paper that has rainbow colored sparkles. I then added a double layer of sheer white ribbon along the bottom edge, the same black satin ribbon as the lid but in a "drum" zig-zag pattern, and hearts with a white bird printed on them, which were cut from paper napkins.

Detail of the 2-layer sheer ribbon.

Detail of the heart. Unfortunately they were more sheer than I realized, so the printed white bird is all but invisible. Phooey. There are 8 hearts around the box.

The bottom of the box has a printed tissue paper, plus a blue-white rose cut from the same paper napkins as the hearts.

Most sincerely yours,
~ Sarah