DIY SUMMER SCHOOL {IKEA HACK} PATRIOTIC BANNER

Hi friends!  If you're a first time visitor today for DIY Summer School, welcome!  My family and I are away on a big road trip to the western side of the country (follow along with us here on Instagram!) and are spending our last day at Disneyland today before we move on to other things. However, I'm excited that I can also be here to share a simple project with you using some of my favorite things from Ikea!

So, although it's summer, school is still in session around here...  DIY Summer School, that is! 

I'm so excited to have been invited by Beth of designPost Interiors to participate in this creative summer series, and along with 7 other talented bloggers we're ready to get our creative juices flowing and share some great ideas with you.   

This week's challenge was to come up with an Ikea hack.  My closest Ikea is 3 hours away, but thankfully I had some things in my stash from previous trips.  After a quick brainstorming session with my Mom and sister, we came up with the idea of using what I had on hand for a cute patriotic banner.  Good timing since the 4th of July is only one month away!

This project was super easy, and even if you don't have the supplies from Ikea, you can use your choice of fabric to make one too.  And, there's not one bit of sewing involved, either!

Here's what you'll need:

2 Ikea dishtowels, I had several on hand so I chose red and blue striped

Coordinating fabric or burlap (my striped fabric is also Ikea)

2 red felt squares

2 blue felt squares

letter patterns

white fabric paint

fabric glue or hot glue

jute rope

wooden mini-clothespins

red, white, and blue marbled yarn (not pictured)

The process is pretty self explanatory...

I used stencils that I had on hand to trace the letters USA onto felt.  If you need to, you could simply pull up letters in your favorite font and print them out for a pattern.  Then, I just cut the Ikea dish towels to size, angling the bottom to a point for more of a pennant look.  Since I had the basic white with red stripe and the blue and white stripe towels on hand, I alternated patterns.  You could certainly stick to one and it would be just as cute, though.  I also used my pinking shears to cut everything so the raveling would be at a minimum, no need for finished edges here!  Adhere the letters to the striped backing piece with fabric glue or hot glue.

I used the same process to add two stars on the edges, adding a stitched look along the edge of the stars and letters with some fabric paint.  You could certainly embroider this for real if you wanted a true stitch, but this did the trick in a hurry for me.

My pennant pieces looked a bit plain, so I found some fabric scraps (striped from Ikea, left over from my son's bedskirt, and blue geometric from Hobby Lobby) to back them.  I considered making a larger version of the pennant shape to frame them, but in the end favored a smaller strip down the middle instead.  I also thought about using burlap for the backing piece... any fabric that meets your taste would work.

After gluing the striped backing strip to the back of the letter pennant, I used my tutorial found here to make some red, white, and blue tassels for the point at the bottom, and hot glued them to the back.  

Finally, using some small clothespins (found at most craft stores), I clipped it all onto a length of jute rope.  Right now it's hanging on the gate outside, but it would also be so cute across the front porch, on the mantle, or across the china cabinet.  We'll see where it ends up when the 4th actually arrives!

Can you believe the Fourth is already approaching?  It's one of our family's favorite holidays.  I always think of it as having all of the fun of Christmas (minus the gifts), without the stress of the holidays!

Be sure to check out these amazing blogs for 7 more creative Ikea projects. 

 designPOST interiors

Dimples & Tangles

Claire Brody Designs

Charming in Charlotte

Lindsey Brooke Design

Thou Swell

Life on Virginia Street

Avery Street Design

Here's the theme for the rest of the projects through the remainder of the series, andwe want you to join in with us!  So, you've got two weeks to get that amazing thrift store find makeover done and be ready to share it with us.

June 18th: Thrifted

July 9th: Wildcard (use anything you want!)

July 23rd: Craft Store

August 6th: Tool Store

August 20th: Found in Nature

And, today we'd love to see your Ikea hack, so link up your project here, or on Instagram using #DIYSummerSchool to tag your project.  

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