How to Make a DIY No-Sew Fabric Wall Hanging

I love DIY projects and crafting and I also love decorating my home and office - so naturally, I love coming up with fun home decor DIY projects that I can use when I redecorate different spaces in our house. 

Lately, wall hangings have become incredibly popular and there's just something about them that I love. The problem though? Wall hangings can be pretty expensive - and it's often hard to find that perfect one that fits your decor theme, colour scheme or the space you're wanting to put it in. 

After searching high and low for exactly what I wanted (and only finding items that were the wrong colour, too big or too small, too long or too short and just not right!), I decided I'd try and work out how to make my own. 

Little did I know at the time that this would be one of the easiest DIY decor projects I had ever done. Seriously, it takes about 10 minutes to make a pennant and it will take you more time going out and sourcing the fabric than it will take you to put it all together.

So let me tell you how to make a DIY Fabric Wall Hanging Pennant >> 

First of all, you'll need to gather some materials. 

What You'll Need For This Project:

• Fabric
  The amount you'll need will depend on the size of your pennant. I decided to make a pennant that's the size of a folded A4 piece of paper so I purchased 1/2 metre of fabric from my local fabric store. This gave me enough fabric to make 8-9 pennants in the size I wanted.
  
  When choosing your fabric, opt for something that's heavier and sturdier to make sure it hangs well on the wall. I went for a canvas-like "decorator" fabric that's made for upholstering chairs, making curtains etc.
• Iron and Ironing Board
• Iron-On Mending Tape or a Needle and Thread/Sewing Machine
  I didn't want to sew mine so I used this iron-on mending tape.
• A Piece of Paper/Newspaper to use as your template
• Sharp fabric scissors
• Fabric pins 
• Dowel or a Stick
  We opted for a dowel for ours, however, if you want a more natural look, you could use a long straight stick instead. We purchased our dowels from Spotlight but you could also find them at your local hardware store.
• Sand Paper and a Saw
  To cut your dowel to size and then sand it back so there are no rough edges.
• A Lead Pencil and Pen 
• Paint and Paint Brushes (if you want to paint on a design) or Iron on Appliques
• Twine, Ribbon or Rope to Use To Hang Your Pennant.

Once you've got all of your materials, decide what size you want your pennant to be and cut your fabric to size, leaving about 1-2 cm on the outside of your template to fold over the fabric to make a clean edge. 

You'll want to pin the fabric template to your fabric so that it doesn't shift around as you're cutting. 

I simple took an A4 piece of paper, folded it in half and then folded the bottom corners in as shown above.

Once you've cut out your fabric, heat up your iron. 

With your template pinned to the inside of your fabric (in my case the inside is the non-print side of the fabric), fold your edges over to meet the template until it looks like what is shown above, ironing the fabric to create a neat fold. Repeat until all of your edges (except for the top edge) are neatly folded over your template. 

Once your template shape is set, place your iron on mending tape underneath each edge (except for the top) and iron until the mending tape has melted and your fabric is stuck together. The mending tape acts like a glue that seals the edge.

Alternatively: if you're sewing your edges inside, simply sew each side (except for the top edge). 

Once all of your seams have been finished, it's time to seal the top. 

I grabbed my dowel and folded over the edge, ensuring there was plenty of room to insert/remove the dowel and then placed a piece of mending tape under the edge of the fabric, sealing it down to create the loop that the dowel will insert into. 

Once everything is sealed, place your dowel into your pennant so that you can decide how long you want your dowel to be. I decided to cut mine to 27cm so it would fit perfectly into my space and have a bit of room either side of my hanging for the twine.

Carefully cut your dowel to side using a hand saw or electric saw (hand saw would probably be easier - but Jesse will happily take any excuse to use his tools). 

And um.. safety first... be sensible when using sharp tools. Use safety glasses and clamps and whatever else is required.

After your dowel is cut, give it a quick sand to tidy up the rough edges and make everything nice and smooth. 

Then you'll want to decide whether you want to drill holes for your rope/twine or simply tie the twine around the outside of your dowels. I decided to (get Jesse to) drill holes in my dowels so that the twine wouldn't slip off - however, you can simply add a bit of glue (either wood glue or a hot glue gone) to attach your twine if you don't have a drill around. 

If you decide to drill a hole, simply measure out the spot you want your holes to go in (and make sure they're even) and choose a drill bit that's just slightly bigger than your twine/rope/ribbon so that you can tie a knot at the end to hold it on.

To finish your wall hanging, simply thread your fabric onto your dowel, place your string through one of the holes and tie a knot at the bottom, measure how much string you'll need and tie off a second knot on the other side to hold it in place. 

After that, you're ready to hang it!

Add a little extra oomph!

But hold on! Isn't that a bit plain?

It could be - if you have a plain fabric! Worry not, my friends - because it's easy to add a design to your wall hanging. 

You can either choose an iron on applique or iron on letters - or you can bust out some paint and paint brushes and get to work!

If you're like me and don't really like to free-hand paint, I've found a really easy way to stencil a design onto your fabric. 

Simply draw or print your design onto a piece of fabric, take a lead pencil and draw all over the back of your design (you want to draw quite heavily as you're mimicing carbon paper here). Once you've scribbled all over the back, place your design right side up on your fabric and use a pen or sharp pencil to draw over the outline of your design. 

This will leave a pencil line outline on your fabric that you can paint over to create your design. 

If it doesn't work the first time, it's highly likely that your pencil scribbles weren't dark enough or you weren't pressing hard enough when tracing over your design. Simply press harder when scribbling over the back of the design again or use a darker pencil (think 2B etc instead of a HB writing pencil). Then repeat the steps again and you should have your design. 

More wall hanging designs from me!

As I create more wall hanging designs for my different decor themes, I'll update this post to share some more design ideas with you. Simply pin this post on Pinterest to refer back to or follow us on Instagram, Facebook or Pinterest so you can find out when I've created something new!

But tell me, 

Are you a craft/DIY fan? What's the last thing you made? 

And what would you put on your wall hanging? 

I kept it simple this month as I just wanted the fabric, however, I have a few Valentines Day ideas in mind as well as future themes!

    

   

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