Mermaid Banner Craft Kit Instructions

This DIY post is specifically for a purchased craft kit that you can find on my Etsy shop.

Summer is a wonderful time of year. Filled with warm sunshine, family gatherings, small town parades, festivals, bon fires with gooey s’mores, summer camp, community events, gardening, pineapple rain, craft shows, and so many other wonderful activities that mark the season. My favorite summer activity is swimming! Whether it is going to the pool, a lake, or even a beach vacation there is just nothing quite like the feeling of gliding through the water.

I learned how to swim before I learned to walk (true story). My mom and grandmother even used to call me their little fish during the summer, because I was always in the water. From early June, when the pool was just filled with cold water from the hose and spring rains, to mid September when I had to convince my family that even though it was 60 degrees in Ohio the calendar still said it was summer, it didn’t matter what temperature of that water was I wanted in it!!!

So, this is for all of the little fishes out there playing mermaid in the water. This craft kit can be an indoor activity for days when the lightening takes away our swim time.

Mermaid Banner DIY Craft Kit

Step One: Order Your Craft Kit

You will first need to order your craft kit from my Etsy Shop HERE.

Step Two: Gather Your Supplies

In this purchased kit you will receive:

Precut Aqua Blue Felt Banner
Precut Mint Blue Felt Tail Overlay
Precut Light Pink and Cream Felt Clam Seashell Pieces
Precut White Felt Conch Seashell
Precut Yellow and Gold Felt Starfish Pieces
90 Individual Precut Oval Mermaid Scales (You only need about 65 to 70)
- 16 Purple, 16 Lavender, 16 Aqua, 21 Mint Blue, and 21 Sky Blue
Wooden Dowel
Twine
Adhesive not included

Additional Information:

Felt Seashell, Conch, and Starfish have been stiffened for your convenience
- This allows you to easily assemble these pieces and attach them to your finished banner

*Additionally you will need adhesive to hold your project together. I recommend using a glue gun; however, if you would like to make this a more child-friendly project feel free to use felt glue.
A glue gun provides a shorter waiting time for drying, allowing your project to be finished sooner. (Which is nice when photographing step-by-step directions)
Felt glue will work fine, but there will be delayed crafting as you wait for the glue to dry.
It is up to you, so long as you do this craft safely and have fun.

So many pros and cons, but adhesive choice is totally up to you.

I will be using both hot glue and felt glue.

Step Three: Attach the Tail Overlay

You will need to prepare your banner with the tail overlay before you start attaching the individual scales. To do this simply lay out both the banner and tail overlay to align them, then lift up smaller sections of the tail overlay to add glue to the bottom and then lay it back down on the banner beneath.

Step Four: Start to Lay Out the Scales

Laying out a few rows of scales now allows you to see where to place the scales, how close they need to be beside one another, the spacing between rows, and how many scales to place on each row… So here are to tips:

Start from the bottom and work your way up
Start the first row with one scale, then a row with two scales, then three scales, and so forth until you have a row of five scales
Each scale in a row will need to be so close together that they touch one another
- Follow the pictures below for guidance
Once you have the five rows of scales down, you should have the entire triangular portion of the banner covered

Step Five: Glue the Scales to the Banner

This can be done in a variety of ways, here are two different methods to glue your scales:

The first method you could use to glue your scales down is to glue the scales from the bottom, meaning placing the glue on the side of the scale that is closest to the tail of the banner. To do this, you can lay out the scales and lift them one by one to add glue to the bottom of each individual scale.

The second method you could use to glue your scales down is to glue them from the top. To do this, lay out one row at a time; once the row is laid down lift each scale from the top portion and add glue to the underneath.

You can see the difference here by taking a look at how the scales lay. The ones glued from the bottom lay flat, where as the scales glued from the top can be lifted a bit. Chose whichever method makes your heart happy.

Once you chose your method, just keep laying and glueing your scales.

Once you have started glueing your scales, stop about two or three rows from the top to insert your wooden dowel.

Step Six: Attaching the Wooden Dowel

When you are ready, add your six inch dowel. First, insert the dowel from the front to the back through the holes in the banner.

Next add your twine to the banner.

Step Seven: Finish Attaching the Scales

If you have added your wooden dowel to the banner and still have space for additional rows, fill in those rows until you reach the wooden dowel.

Once you have reached the dowel, your final rows of scales will be on top of the dowel. Here is how that will look…

After the row of scales sitting on the dowel is glued down, you can then glue a final row on top. I just laid down a strip of glue across the top and then laid the final scales over the glue.

**Doing this will allow you to secure the banner to the wooden dowel without leaving a crease or mark from the dowel on the front of the banner. Having a crease or divot into the top scales will look odd compared to all of the smooth scales you worked so hard to lay down.

Step Eight: Finish the Back of your Banner

Now that all of your scales are laid down, flip the banner over to see the back side.

I know I just said this but incase you need a reminder… Doing this will allow you to secure the banner to the wooden dowel without leaving a crease or mark from the dowel on the front of the banner.