DIY: Spool Banner

When I went thrift shopping with a friend, she bought a bag of thread that had older and newer spools. She just wanted thread and didn’t want the empty wooden spools, and I gladly accepted them when she offered them to me.

Looking at the spools, I thought I could make a cute banner with them. They could be used for place setting names on a table for a party or a special message for someone.

SUPPLIES

• Empty thread spool (preferably wooden)
• Decorative paper (for spool base)
• Secondary paper (for banner)
• Plain paper (to cover base of straw if necessary)
• Double-sided permanent tape
• Straw
• Scissors
• Pen
• Pencil
• Ruler

DIRECTIONS
— 1 —
Test to make sure the straw you’re using will fit in the spool’s hole. If it’s too big, then use a smaller straw. It’s okay if the straw doesn’t fit perfectly, but it has to be able to fit in the hole.

— 2 —
Measure the height of where the thread would have been on the spool. (For my spool it was 0.875 inch.)

— 3 —
On the back of the decorative paper, mark the height. (I was lazy and didn’t bother with the width and instead used the entire width of paper. However, if you want to know the actual width needed, use a length of string to wrap around the circumference of the spool, and then measure that string length against a ruler.)

Tip: for all of the paper (decorative, secondary and plain paper) use paper that isn’t too thick, as it needs to be able to wrap around objects with relative ease.

— 4 —
Cut the decorative paper into a strip.

— 5 —
On the back of the decorative paper strip, adhere a piece of double-sided permanent tape to one end. Adhere the tape to the spool.

— 6 —
On the back side of the decorative paper strip, adhere a piece of double-sided permanent tape to the other end of the paper.

— 7 —
Carefully wrap the decorative paper around the spool and adhere the tape down.

— 8 —
Cut the straw to desired length. (Mine was 5 inches long.)

— 9 —
Cut a strip of paper for the banner. (Mine was 4 inches long by 0.5 inch high.)

— 10 —
Fold the banner paper strip in half.

— 11 —
If desired, write text on both sides of the fold, keeping the text about half an inch away from the edge and the fold.

For type, consider people’s names, Thank You, Happy Birthday, Congrats, etc.

— 12 —
Put double-sided permanent tape across the back side of the banner paper strip. (If necessary, cut the tape down to fit the height of the banner. I cut my tape from 0.5 inch wide to about 0.375 inch wide.)

— 13 —
Place the straw on the banner fold, keeping the banner paper strip about 0.375 inch away from the top of the straw.

— 14 —
Bring the banner ends together and press to adhere the tape.

— 15 —
Cut the banner strip from the corners inward, about 0.375 inch.

— 16 —
Place the straw in the hole of the spool, if it fits, you’re done. If it’s loose, then cut a strip of paper. (Mine was 5.5 inch long and 0.75 inch high. Cut the height of the paper so it’s less than the height of the spool, that way it won’t be seen once the Spool Banner if finished.)

— 17 —
Place double-sided permanent tape at one end of the paper and adhere it to the bottom of the straw, about 0.125 inch from the end.

— 18 —
Adhere a piece of double-sided permanent tape at the other end of the strip.

— 19 —
Carefully roll the paper around the straw and adhere the tape to the straw. (If necessary, adjust the length of the strip. Cut it down if it’s too thick to fit in the hole, or add more paper if it’s not thick enough.)

— 20 —
Put the straw into the spool hole. With the right amount of paper at the base, the straw should be stabilized. Spool Banner complete.

In this Spool Banner, the top of the spool had an unattractive sticker that I wanted to cover. So I used the spool as a template. I placed the spool on a chosen paper and traced around the top of the spool; then I just cut out the circle. I punched a hole in the center of the circle paper and then taped it to the top of the spool.

Also, if you don’t like the color of your straw, use colored tape to cover it (as I did in this project).