This DIY Birthday Banner is the perfect beginner sewing project, requiring only a straight stitch. You can choose to either sew by hand or use a machine, each adds its own charm! Pull out some fabric scraps and sew together this new family tradition of a homemade Birthday Banner. 

Autumn and winter are birthday seasons in our house. My husband, baby, and I all have birthdays within 2 months of each other! Not to mention extended family birthdays as well. Since I have become a mother, I have had a heightened sense of nostalgia. So, naturally, with birthday season comes the urge to make it special and homey for those under my roof. I have seen many beautiful, flawless banners on Pinterest and Instagram, either mass-produced or painstakingly hand-embroidered. And you know what? They’re beautiful! 

Those perfect Happy Birthday Banners are not what I had in mind, though. I had in mind something handmade. Not careless, but whimsical. Mismatched and handsewn with love. So, I came up with this! You can use this as inspiration for your own Birthday Banner, or attempt to copy it exactly. I highly recommend using up scraps from your fabric stash, or checking out a local thrift store for some second-hand fabric, sheets, or curtains! This can easily be personalized for anyone in your family. If you are particularly ambitious, you could make one for each family member and break it out for their birthday week! For us, I think we will likely stick with just this one, and go from there. 

Alright y’all, enough chatting, let’s get into how to make this simple, DIY Birthday Banner!

Basic Design Process

First things first, I decided on the shape I wanted each bunting to be. I settled on a pointed bunting for *HAPPY* and an inverted bunting for *BIRTHDAY*. You could certainly add some bunting squares to either side of the words, or anywhere you desire. Once you know the shapes and the number you need for each one, go ahead and cut it out in whichever fabric you’d like. I ended up cutting 2 pieces of fabric for each finished bunting square. I used two contrasting fabrics and thought it turned out super cute! You absolutely could make this double-sided as well, but I knew no one would see the opposite side so I decided against it. 

Now that you have your bunting squares, it’s time to figure out the letters. I used my Cricut to cut out each of the letters from thin white cotton. I do not have a rotary blade, and honestly, it was a huge mess. Next time I would just trace the letters by hand onto the white fabric and cut them out with scissors or pinking shears. To keep the letters uniform, I made all of them 3 inches tall, though the width varies slightly depending on the letter. 

Alright, all of the fabric is cut out, so now to assemble everything! I used a white cotton thread to first stitch the white letters to the blue bunting panel. Next, with a contrasting yellow thread, I stitched the blue panel to the striped panel. Repeat this process for each letter/panel that needs to be made. 

Once all of the panels are assembled, I measured out the length I wanted each banner to run. You could totally put all of the letters on one ribbon, but we don’t have enough space for that in our home. I simply stitched each panel to the ribbon, making sure to leave equal spacing between each. To go with the whimsical theme, I picked two ribbons that were coordinated with touches of natural color in both but were still very different from each other. There wasn’t enough to also have to tie to hang up the banners, so I used a small loop of twine to stitch on either end of each banner to hang them. 

That’s all! I hope that this didn’t sound too complicated because honestly, it was one of the simplest projects I’ve made in a long time. Time-consuming, sure, but very simple. It also was quite relaxing to hand sew while sitting on the couch for once. I love my sewing machine (and did use it a bit!) but can become rather tired of sitting at the kitchen table for days while sewing multiple projects. 

Give it a go and let me know how it turns out! Use whatever fabric you have on hand or random fabrics you can find at a discount. I think it would also be beautiful if you used all different fabrics for each bunting square for a truly mismatched dreamy banner. If you’re particularly daring, you could turn some unused quilt squares into the bunting background too! The possibilities are endless, and no matter what, it will be a precious heirloom that your family will treasure for years to come!

Let me know how it turns out in the comments below, and tag me in a picture of you celebrating with your banner on Instagram @makeshifthomestead!

‘Til next time!