Winter
Draft-Blocking
Gondorian Banner
Banner
Start Date: January 3, 2004
Banner Completion: January 6, 2004
Last Page Update: March 14, 2004
(Photo gallery can been seen at the bottom of this page.)
This idea came to me when I
couldn't take the terrible draft blowing in on me through my bedroom window! First of all,
I have an *extremely* small room, 7 feet wide by 10 feet long to be exact, and the only
place for my bed is right up against the wall under the window. So,
for the longest time, I was having problems with a freezing cold draft dropping down on me
during the night and I would wake up all the time with a cold. So, I finally decided that
I would throw together a quick "wind blocker" and since my room is lavender and
black, I thought a nice black Gondorian banner would look nice and be functional. So
here's how I made it.....
MATERIALS I USED:
I bought about 2 yards, I really can't remember exactly
how much, of thick black fleece for the main part of the banner. Sometimes I think I
should have gotten a little more, that way it could have double thickness and be just a
bit warmer, but, the way it is now is just fine. No more drafts! For the "white
tree" emblem, I got some incredibly annoying silver satin; annoying because it frays
SO easily. :-( Ah well.
PATTERN: No bought patterns used for this one, I made it entirely according to the
size of my window, plus about 6 inches on the sides and nearly a foot longer on the
bottom. I used my big thick sewing book to figure out how to make the tabs and
facing. For the White Tree, I wanted it to look like Pippin's Gondorian armor, but I
couldn't find a good enough picture to go by, so in the end I used Faramir's armor
instead.
GOING ABOUT MAKING THE
BANNER: For the most part, this was fairly
simple, just time consuming. I think all in all I have between 6 - 8 hours into it, I'm
not really sure though because I don't sit there and time myself! I got it done in a
couple of days. Since fleece doesn't fray, I didn't hem the side edges or the bottom
edges. I cut 10 separate pieces of narrow material for the tabs, in the end they're about
an inch to an inch and a half wide by a couple inches tall. Sewing the tabs and facing on
was a piece of cake, I found instructions in my big sewing book. If you've never
done this before and you have questions, please email me (Ice_Hockey_Lass@hotmail.com) and I can
explain how to do this. The White Tree was the trickiest and most tedious part. I
took several pieces of newspaper and taped them together to make my pattern. For my
reference photo, I printed out the picture of Faramir's breast plate from the Two Towers
extended DVD in the costume section. (You need a DVD rom to do this) I then went
about drawing it out by hand and making it MUCH bigger as I went along. Everything,
except for the stars, is one gigantic piece. Once I had made the pattern and cut it out, I
glued it one, starting from the top branches and working my way down. The stars I cut out
later and then glued to the banner, completing it. My only regret is that I didn't use
something for the white tree that frays so badly, but, oh well, this was my first attempt
at making a banner. :-)
Here is what the finished banner looks like hanging
in my window. ..
And here are a few shots of it outside in the back
alley....
I am currently working on Arwen's Bedroom Banner. Check back in a few weeks.
See Also...
Banner
of Rohan
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