Make: SEWN Paper Banner

Did you know that you can sew paper?

Me neither. Not until I saw this Instagram upload from Lindsey's blog at The Pleated Poppy.

I feel like my crafty-mind has been blown. Paper?! SEWING?! Okay! This immediately had my wheels spinning for Halloween (which we will get to in a sec)...

Our church was hosting a "Truck or Treat", which basically has a bunch of cars lined up, trunks open, and you serving candy from your trunk! We had the event outside of our church building and had all sorts of games and treats on the sidewalks, and our cars backed up to the sidewalks.

The church leadership (which includes my hubs) wanted all of the cars to be decorated in some way. Enter PAPER BANNER THAT IS SEWN TOGETHER! Holla! Here's what I did:

First, I selected my paper and cut it into various inch widths (1'' or 2'') strips, then sorted by color/style.

Next, I cut the lengths into various inches and sorted them that way (8'' all the way up to 12'').

I used one of the crafter's most resourceful areas (the FLOOR) to lay out my design: various patterns and various lengths next to each other.

I picked up my papers in order and flipped them over so I would have the right assortment in the right pattern/order.

Then I started SEWING! It was such a rush... who would have thought you could sew paper?! I used a small stitch/width at first, but it started perforating my paper and made it rip a little, so I widened the stitch width and made the zig-zag more obvious. Worked like a charm!

Voila! Nate looks thrilled, doesn't he? Baha, gotta love my model!

Here she is, in all her glory, draped on the back door/trunk lid/thang of my SUV. So colorful for Halloween! Psst... do you see a sweet, little ol' furry boy in my lap?!

Agh! Oliver was A-DORABLE for Halloween! He went as Harry PAWter (hahahahaha). I made his cape and scarf out of felt and hot glue (sewed the cape a little bit). I made his glasses (with a bit of trial and error) out of pipe cleaners. He wasn't too keen on them, so I am SO glad I got these pictures! I got the idea via Pinterest on this website.

Chloe was a bit harder to get a photo of: she was VERY excited about those Trick or Treaters, and eventually was banished to the inside of the car for fear that she would run away! I made her shirt as well: I used fabric scraps to make the pumpkin, stem, and leaf, then painted the word "BOO!" so people wouldn't think it was a peach :)


Happy crafting, everyone! How was your Halloween?

Linking up to the Weekend Wrap-up Party at Tatertots and Jello!