How to Make an Easy Fall or Halloween Fabric Banner

The last four months of the year are the best, in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, I love the spring and summer months, but the fall and winter holidays always stir up so many memories of my younger days. I guess that is why I love crafting more when the air gets crisp and pumpkin spice flavors are in everyone’s cup. I always begin by making an easy fall or Halloween fabric banner. Some of them are funny. Some are scary. Some are even downright cute. So, if you want to decorate your home and landscape for fall or Halloween, read on so you can make fabric banners as well.

Banners Three Ways

There are three basic ways to make a fabric banner for your fall or Halloween décor. You can either, paint, glue, or sew the various pieces and parts you use. Sometimes I use all three methods on one fabric banner. It just depends on where it will be as to what method I choose to make the banner.

For the Fall and Halloween fabric banners I made for this article, I painted and glued the different decorations onto the fabric. For this particular holiday banner, I chose an image from Creative Fabrica. I love the gnome and the shape of the leaves that accompany it. The artwork is both cute and festive. I’ll use the gnome in another project, but I wanted the leaf shape for this one. You can find the gnome image here.

Since the Fall banners I am making are going to be outside, I used a piece of drop cloth and burlap for my base fabric. (Sometimes drop cloth is also known as painter’s cloth.) I wanted the fabric banner to withstand the elements that our local area encounters at this time of year. Both fabrics are made to withstand the rain and wind enough to last the entire fall season. It is important to know how well the material you use will stand up to the elements in your local area when you make these easy fall or Halloween fabric banners.

The first thing I do is determine what size I want my holiday banner to be. I cut the burlap and drop cloth to the appropriate size. You can make these Fall or Halloween fabric banners any size you choose, from tiny flags to large door coverings and all sizes in between. For this project I chose to make the banners in two sizes. One is 14-inches by 18-inches and the other one is only 12-inches by 12-inches. The larger one is for the yard and the smaller one is for the front door. I cut both the drop cloth and the burlap 2- to 3-inches longer than I need so I can attach a hanger to the top of each of them.

Safety Tip: Always wear goggles and a mask when working with burlap. Burlap is a natural fiber made from the jute plant. The fibers are abrasive to the eyes and lungs.

I paint the fabric burlap or drop cloth using acrylic paints so I can get the colors I want for the banners. You can also use spray paint made for outdoor furniture if you choose. Making these fall and Halloween banners, I used acrylic paint on the smaller one and spray paint for the larger. I chose colors associated with the fall and Halloween seasons and made sure they would complement the embellishments I used to decorate the fabric banners.

I made a pattern from the leaves in the gnome image and cut out quite a few to make my fall and Halloween fabric banners. There are so many ways to decorate these banners. You can use fabric leaves and other festive items you find at your local dollar store. You can paint pumpkins and scarecrows on the fabric. You can cut out black cats and witch hats from kid’s art foam or felt. Paint a spooky, dead tree and a ghost on your fabric banner, along with the phrase “THIS PLACE IS HAUNTED” or “KEEP OUT”.  Other sentiments you could use are “Sweater Season in Progress” or “Welcome Fall”. One of my favorites is “Fall is My Favorite Color”.

I have several sets of alphabet stamps and two or three different types of letter stencils. For the smaller fabric banner, I stamped my sentiment using black archival ink. For the larger banner, I decided to use one of my stencil sets to add the saying in black spray paint. I set the banners aside to dry. If you do not have stencils or stamps, print out your saying using your favorite font in the size you will need for your banner. Hint: Creative Fabrica has several spooky fonts and hundreds of others that are amazing for making fabric banners. Grab some carbon paper and trace the letters onto your banner. Then just fill in the tracing with your desired color of paint.

I added the cut-out leaves that I wanted with Gorilla Glue. I placed the leaves where I wanted them and picked each one up separately to glue it back down. I am terrible at not remembering where I wanted something and will kick myself for screwing it up if I don’t do it this way. It is just easier to lay them all out, arrange them as I want them, and then glue each one where it lays. I like my fabric banners so much better when I do it that way. Sometimes, if I am working outdoors, I will take a picture of the placement. This is a foolproof way to keep the design safe if the wind decides to blow everything off before I get things properly glued in place.

The great thing about this project is that once you make an easy fall or Halloween banner, you can make any outdoor or indoor banner! Imagine the different fabric banners you can make for all your holiday and family celebrations. The possibilities are endless. Have fun crafting!