Wedding Banner: Shawn & Max

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Today is Shawn and Max’s wedding day. The bride is a family friend and I wanted to make a banner to commemorate the occasion. This kind of project is quick (about a week) in comparison to the other work I do, which takes months or years. In the weeks since delivering the artwork for my upcoming book, My Bed to the publisher, I feel like a free woman! Besides gardening and paying attention to my husband Rob, I have indulged in making fun gifts like this.

It’s been a long time since I made a banner – you can see others in the archives here. I’ve also made personalized wedding dolls, which match the look and style of real-life couples. They inspired the new chapter in the 2nd edition of my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: New Adventures.

Personalized wedding dolls from the archives

The banner features 2 of my favorite things, cursive handwriting and embroidery. I start by forming the letters with paper covered florist wire.

Then, I wrap the wire with a double strand of variegated embroidery floss.

The letters flow from one to the next, with occasional breaks, like in Max’s name below. I made a separate piece to complete the “x”.

In a nod to the theme of love, I made a heart shaped vine of wire and glass beads.

After I sewed the wire heart to the background felt, I stitched more leaves with embroidery floss.

For much of my art, borders are an important element. I like to define the edges using blanket stitching with a thick variegated thread – Watercolours by Caron.

The wedding date is written in light letters and numbers on a separate dark piece of felt.

I added glass leaf beads and silk ribbon French knot roses.

I put 2 carved bone fish beads in the open areas around their names and sewed the felt sections to the long banner piece.

After chain stitching spirals to the scalloped bottom edged, I sewed shells to the points. These shells are from old souvenir necklaces from Hawaii.

I even remembered to sew a Wee Folk Studio label to the back.

I cut a piece of driftwood to hang the banner from, drilled holes in it and attached the banner with thread. I then made a braided cord with variegated thread – Watercolours by Caron.
Congratulations Shawn and Max. May you have a long and happy marriage!

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27 thoughts on “Wedding Banner: Shawn & Max”

  2. Thank you so much for sharing your artistic techniques — truly inspirational and generous! The banner is beautiful, they are a lucky couple!

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    • Thanks Julie, I’m a visual learner, too. Don’t you think that most people are? For the life of me, I cannot follow written or audio instructions without accompanying pictures.

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  13. I’m curious about repetitive motion fatigue, not just physical but mental, and creative. Over the months, years of the My Bed project, how did you avoid pain or injury to your hands, neck, elbows? What about the stamina required to get up and be creatively productive 6 days a week (more)? Did you run out of ideas? How do you refresh and recharge to maintain that energy? If you’ve addressed this before somewhere please forgive and point me in the right direction. Thank you for sharing your process.

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    • Thank you for asking about the important health implications of working this way. I have not had any problems caused by the stitching process, both physical and mental. Many people my age suffer from arthritis, but I have never had any joint pain. Yes, my work is repetitive, but my hands and wrists are constantly moving in different positions. I go to a wonderful exercise class (zumba, kick boxing, etc.) that keeps my body strong and lean. And the stitching is therapeutic; it feeds my soul. I have so many ideas that there’s no fear of running out. Simply put, the reason I get up in the morning is to make art.

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  23. I’ve just found your blog and I’m amazed by your stunning creativity and the gorgeous photos you include of your work. I’m now going to spend some time over the coming days/weeks catching up on all of your past posts. Thank you.

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