I decided to make my own chair ties for this American Girl Party so that I could coordinate the party colors, bring in more of a floral theme, and to incorporate a bit of an old fashioned element. I bought this fabric on Etsy from Christa at Sew Good Fabric.

directions:

1. You will need: fabric, pinking shears, and a ruler. I like to use a quilter’s self healing grid with a lip edge ruler to measure. For fabric I bought Tanya Whelan: Darla Yellow Rosie Dot, Alexander Henry: White Kitty Calico Floral, and Heather Bailey: Pop Garden Rose Peonies. Since these fabrics are already 56″ wide, I based how much I bought on how many ties I wanted to make. My ties measure 7″ x 56″ and one yard make 5 chair ties.
2. I used my quilters ruler to draw a line with a pencil on the back side of the fabric.
3. With my pinking shears I cut along the pencil line. Pinking shears will make it so that the fabric doesn’t unravel.
4. Then I washed the chair ties, dried them, trimmed the extra strings off, and ironed them. I wanted the frayed edges since I was going for a country type look.

I used the fabric scraps to make smaller fabric “ribbons” to tie up the paper favor bags.

And I bought two other fabrics in different florals to make a coordinating banner, Heather Bailey: Pop Garden Turquoise Pop Daisy & Tanya Whelan: Darla Rose in Fuchsia.

Want the whole scoop? Click on the American Girl Party tag below for all the party pics, tips, and tutorials. All images ©One Charming Party.