Thursday, June 16, 2011

A Star-Spangled (Paint Chip) Banner - Tutorial

To celebrate the 4th of July this year, I made my own Star-Spangled Banner:


(Also check out this festive Korker Cake Garland I made for the 4th, my first guest post over at The CSI Project!)

If my mantle looks familiar, you've seen it before with the paint chip Easter egg garland, which was inspired by Modern Parents, Messy Kids.


I'm writing up my own tutorial on this one, since I used a sewing machine instead of doing it by hand. I realized recently how much I dislike sewing by hand! If you've used a sewing machine, you should be able to do this project since it's just a basic straight stitch. If not, do it by hand and it will be just as cute!


What you need to make a Star-Spangled (Paint Chip) Banner:


paint chips in red, white and blue 
scissors
cardboard to cut out a star-shaped template
sewing machine (optional)
white thread
double-sided tape for hanging

I used 21 paint chips total, 7 of each color. Don't worry if some of the red paint chips look pink--you will get the overall look of red, white and blue when it all comes together.

First you want to make yourself a star-shaped template out of your piece of cardboard. I traced one of Little Sweet's star shapes from a foam puzzle, then tweaked the size a bit to fit 2 stars on each paint chip. You could also draw your own or print out a star shape from Photoshop.

You want the white line to be close to the widest part of your star since you'll be sewing directly over that white line to give it some stability:


Trace the star shape onto your paint chips and cut out as many as you want for your banner.


Then admire how patriotic all the stars look:


Okay back to work. It's time to sew now. I had more red and blue stars than white so I used a pattern of red-blue-red-blue-white, repeat.

There are a couple of ways you can sew these together as far as the spacing goes. I tried both and you'll see my results in a minute. The first way is to line them up right next to each other as you sew so they're close together and overlapping just a bit.


Or you can leave a small amount of space in between each star as you sew so they're more spread out. You don't want the gap to be too big because it will be more likely that they'll flip upside down when it's hanging.


I think I like the spread-out look better but the side that I made close together was definitely easier to hang. Can you see the difference?


While you're sewing, be careful how the already-sewn stars fall since you don't want a big jumbled mess when you're done. Then find somewhere to hang your Star-Spangled (Paint Chip) Banner!


So festive and easy to make. This is a quick 1-naptime craft for all you mommies out there!


Think about all the possibilities with this craft: You could make stars to hang above baby's crib as a mobile (double-sided so the backs are pretty too), decorate a birthday party table in your theme colors (sewn together as a banner or just as giant star-shaped "confetti")... so many options.


I'd love to see your version if you make one--leave a comment with your link if you blog about yours!

54 comments:

  1. I LOVE the paint chip star garland!!! I love making things out of paint chips. Really nice! Stopping by from "A Glimpse Inside".

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  2. How fun! I love how it can be made with a quick (freebie) trip to WalMart and things you've got in your stash!

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  3. that is so cute! Me? I'd take my glue out! Love the paint chip idea {:-D

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  4. i love this idea... such a fabulous use of paint chips!!

    xoxo,
    lesley

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  5. What a great idea! I'm following you from the Etsy Blog Team!

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  6. This is way too cute! I love all these paint chip projects but I always wonder if you left any chips left at the store after you took them all! lol Thanks for linking this up to this week's Catch a Glimpse party. I'll be featuring this tomorrow.

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  7. Great project! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. Fun idea! What a great way to upcycle paint chips!!

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  9. this is fabulous! i'm sharing it on my facebook page!

    www.facebook.com/barnowlprimitives

    all the best to you ~ kristi

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  10. This is so freaking great! This paint chip stuff is killing me. I need to steal a million in a million different colors. Home Depot must be hating us!

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  11. I just pinned this... I love how bright it turned out.

    Thanks so much for visiting my blog.
    Amanda Joy
    www.joyinthejumble.com

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  12. great idea ~ love the look of this!!

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  13. This is a really cute idea, Tricia! I love the different shades of red and blue. It looks great on your mantel!

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  14. How Cute! i'd love for you to share it at my link party. Love the idea!

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  15. just popping over to say ADORABLE! xo malia

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  16. So, so cute! It would be adorable for a birthday party as well.

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  17. You are so creative!! I never think of doing stuff like this...

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  18. Great idea and great tutorial! I will for sure have to try this for the holiday! Thanks for sharing!

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  19. love this! you should sell garland like this in your etsy shop

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  20. This is such a cute idea. I love how simple it is...and free! Beautiful job.

    Cheers,
    Tracy Screaming Sardine

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  21. This is totally adorable! And so clever. Thanks for sharing

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  22. This is sooo stinkin cute! Love that you took the egg idea and changed it up for the next seaons! Hope you will share whith the Pink Hippo Party @ http://pinkapotamus.blogspot.com/2011/06/pink-hippo-party-34.html

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  23. Very cute!! What a wonderful idea!!

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  24. I like this a lot! And it's FREE! :) Very cute! Thanks for sharing! http://craftysix.blogspot.com

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  25. Awesome! I was going to by a craft punch until I saw that you made your own template. Hello!

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  26. This is GREAT!!! I think you did a fantastic job! I was also inspired by the Easter egg banner and many more and made this... http://alililly.blogspot.com/2011/05/spring-flower-wreath-from-paint-chip.html

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  27. This is so adorable and perfect for Independence Day!

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  28. I love it! I think I might find a star shaped punch to cut out all those stars though. Yours looks really great.

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  29. Out of curiosity, do you buy your paint chips or are you encouraging us to all go to the hardware store and simply take paint chips for paint we never intend to buy? Good idea, though I think it may open up a can of worms when you think about where the supplies come from.

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  30. What an amazing idea! I'm certainly heading to Lowe's to pick up some paint chips over the weekend! Hope mine turns out as great as yours did!

    Great blog-I'm a new follower!

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  31. Glad you're all enjoying an easy and free patriotic craft! =)

    Anonymous, it's definitely something to consider when you're making paint chip crafts. I only get my paint chips from stores that I patronize. In fact, this week I'm buying 5 gallons of paint from Home Depot. I don't think they'd let you pay for them even if you offered. =) (By the way, I can't email my commenters if you don't have an email address linked to your account so I hope you check back to read this.)

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  32. I featured this over at Sassy Sites! Thanks so much for linking up to our Sassy Summer party!! I love this!

    http://sassysites.blogspot.com/2011/06/summertime-shout-outs.html

    Don't forget to grab a button!
    XOXO
    Marni

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  33. I love how this came out!!! Thanks so much for linking up to Delicately Constructed Fridays last week! Check out my blog tonight, I am going to feature this!!
    Michelle
    www.delicateconstruction.blogspot.com

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  34. I love these! I love paint chip projects! I'm impressed you cut those all out Great tutorial and tips for sewing them, too. (and thanks for the sweet comments on my garland, too)

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  35. very cute...pinned this!
    ♥Jaime...sevensisters

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  36. How cute! I LOVE paint chip crafts! This would be perfect for the top of my entertainment center. Thanks for sharing! I'm definitely pinning this to Pinterest! =)

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  37. Love that you've really taken my Easter paint chip garland and run with it! Featuring you today here: http://www.modernparentsmessykids.com/2011/06/reader-project-family-finds-around-web.html

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  38. Thanks a lot for blogging this, it was unbelieveably informative and helped me tons.
    trazado de recorte

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  39. What a great project!! Just brilliant with the paint chips

    I am having a Red, White and Blue Linky Party and I hope you will join in on the fun by sharing this link.

    http://www.itsybitsypaperblog.com/2011/07/red-white-and-blue-linky-party.html

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  40. This turned out super cute and congrats on being featured! Btw, let "Annonymous" know, if you figure out how, that I called Lowes and asked them if I could come pick up some paint chips for a craft and they didn't seem to care one bit! So all you have to do is ask, no reason to be deceitful :) congrats again on another super cute idea and for inspiring us all! I don't sew but am thinking about making this into a craft with my daughter!

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  41. Did you use those stars on the 4th of April? It would be so patriotic to redesign your house for the Independence Day, I'm sure your guests loved it.

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  42. I'm the Editorial Assistant for Fun Family Crafts and I wanted to let you know that we have featured your paint chip project! You can see it here:

    http://funfamilycrafts.com/paint-chip-garland/

    If you have other kid friendly crafts, we'd love it if you would submit them. If you would like to display a featured button on your site, you can grab one from the right side bar of your post above. Thanks for a wonderful project idea!

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