Monday, April 6, 2015
Quilted First Communion Banner
A few months ago, my friend Tori asked me to do something special for her son, Lochlan. We've known them since preschool. He is eight and will be having his first communion coming up, and she asked me if it was possible to make a quilted first communion banner. I said, "Sure!" not knowing anything about said banners as although I'm Christian, I wasn't raised Catholic. My husband, who grew up in the Catholic faith, didn't remember having a banner so some googling was in order. :)
I learned from Tori that it had to include his name, and the rest she left up to me. It was slightly stressful, b/c with the creative license left all up to me, (and not knowing anything about the banners prior) I really wanted Tori and her family, and especially Mr. Lochlan to like it! Luckily, there are tons of pics on Pinterest and online.
But.. nearly all, if not all, of the ones I saw were made of felt, and each parish has its own set of rules re: size, who makes it, etc. Some required the children to make them, some required them all to be on one uniform color and size of felt, etc.
So after finding out all of the specifics, the only rule at their parish being the size, I set out to figure out how to piece Lochlan's name into a 19 x 30-ish banner..
..and what else to put on it. I settled on the challis and bread, which I had noticed was on a lot of the ones I saw online.
At first I tried to draw out a loaf of bread, which looked hilarious, not something you want your banner to be. ;) So that kind of morphed into the wafer-ish/round bread that I had noticed on some of the online pics.
Then I drew up a stained glass window-y cross.
I used saturated and dark colors b/c Lochlan's not a "light blue" or pastel color-type kid. In preschool, most of his pictures were dark colors, and by that I mean black. He went through the black crayons in preschool like it was nobody's business. And he's always been a heavy colorer. You know, the kind of kid who smashes that crayon onto the page when he's coloring.
I sent what I had drawn out to his mom and she showed him, and they both gave the thumbs up, and the rest is history. It took about a weekend to put together from start to finish and I just used fabric and scraps I had already.
The back is very "Lochlan", too with black chevrons, and I used some thick black ribbon, and inserted a thin dowel into the top binding pocket so it hangs straight when he carries it.
The best part is that his mom got a little teary when she saw it, and loved it, and Lochlan loves it too.
Here's a pic of our boys when they were in preschool together with their other two friends. I can't believe they are eight now! That's Loch on the right in the red.
Their friend in the blue superhero suit moved away that year, and here are the boys saying goodbye to each other. Their foursome became a threesome that day, and when they erupted into a spontaneous group hug, I think all of us moms nearly cried. AHHH, where has the time gone!!!
Thanks for asking me to be a part of Loch's special day, Tori!!
xoxo
p.s. for Patti's comment below (I couldn't answer via email, there was no return email address) I'm so sorry, I was not implying that Catholics aren't Christians. I was just saying that although I am Christian, I wasn't raised as a Catholic so had no knowledge of the traditions that go with first communion. So a LOT of googling and research was done. :) I will reword it a little, so it's more clear.
I learned from Tori that it had to include his name, and the rest she left up to me. It was slightly stressful, b/c with the creative license left all up to me, (and not knowing anything about the banners prior) I really wanted Tori and her family, and especially Mr. Lochlan to like it! Luckily, there are tons of pics on Pinterest and online.
But.. nearly all, if not all, of the ones I saw were made of felt, and each parish has its own set of rules re: size, who makes it, etc. Some required the children to make them, some required them all to be on one uniform color and size of felt, etc.
So after finding out all of the specifics, the only rule at their parish being the size, I set out to figure out how to piece Lochlan's name into a 19 x 30-ish banner..
..and what else to put on it. I settled on the challis and bread, which I had noticed was on a lot of the ones I saw online.
At first I tried to draw out a loaf of bread, which looked hilarious, not something you want your banner to be. ;) So that kind of morphed into the wafer-ish/round bread that I had noticed on some of the online pics.
Then I drew up a stained glass window-y cross.
I used saturated and dark colors b/c Lochlan's not a "light blue" or pastel color-type kid. In preschool, most of his pictures were dark colors, and by that I mean black. He went through the black crayons in preschool like it was nobody's business. And he's always been a heavy colorer. You know, the kind of kid who smashes that crayon onto the page when he's coloring.
I sent what I had drawn out to his mom and she showed him, and they both gave the thumbs up, and the rest is history. It took about a weekend to put together from start to finish and I just used fabric and scraps I had already.
The back is very "Lochlan", too with black chevrons, and I used some thick black ribbon, and inserted a thin dowel into the top binding pocket so it hangs straight when he carries it.
The best part is that his mom got a little teary when she saw it, and loved it, and Lochlan loves it too.
Here's a pic of our boys when they were in preschool together with their other two friends. I can't believe they are eight now! That's Loch on the right in the red.
Their friend in the blue superhero suit moved away that year, and here are the boys saying goodbye to each other. Their foursome became a threesome that day, and when they erupted into a spontaneous group hug, I think all of us moms nearly cried. AHHH, where has the time gone!!!
Thanks for asking me to be a part of Loch's special day, Tori!!
xoxo
p.s. for Patti's comment below (I couldn't answer via email, there was no return email address) I'm so sorry, I was not implying that Catholics aren't Christians. I was just saying that although I am Christian, I wasn't raised as a Catholic so had no knowledge of the traditions that go with first communion. So a LOT of googling and research was done. :) I will reword it a little, so it's more clear.
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5 comments...:
How wonderful! A very meaningful banner! Great job with the design!
Great job on the banner!
I loved the banner and wish I had thought to make one for my God Child. I mean this in the nicest way but Catholics are considered to be Christians.
It's lovely!! I've never heard of children having their own banner for First Holy Communion but it's a lovely idea! Watch out because the school/church might ask you to make one for them to take to Diocesan Masses, etc!!!
This is beyond thoughtful of you.....on many levels! It turned out great! I am sure Lochlan will cherish it forever!