To make a banner in Minecraft, you craft a blank banner from one wool block and one stick, then customize it with patterns and colors using a Loom block. The Loom, introduced in the Village & Pillage update, is the primary tool for applying designs, letting you turn a simple flag into a personalized decoration for your builds, shields, or bases.
What you need to make a banner in Minecraft
Gather three basic materials before you start. The base color of your banner comes from one wool block of any color, sheep are the most reliable source, but you can also craft wool from string. You need one stick, which you can get by breaking leaves or crafting two wooden planks vertically in a crafting grid. Finally, you need a crafting table, made from four wooden planks, to assemble the banner itself.
Crafting your banner
Once you have your materials, open the crafting table’s 3×3 grid. Place the wool block in the center square and the stick directly below it in the bottom-middle square. This arrangement produces one blank banner with the wool’s color as its base. The banner appears in the result slot, ready for customization.
How to use a loom to customize your banner
The Loom is the essential block for adding patterns and colors to your banner. You can craft one by placing two planks vertically in the left column and two string vertically in the right column of a crafting grid, or you can find a Loom naturally inside a shepherd’s house in a village. Once you have a Loom, place it on the ground and right-click it to open its interface.
The Loom’s interface has three input slots: the leftmost slot for your banner, the center slot for a dye, and the rightmost slot for an optional banner pattern item. After placing these items, a list of available patterns appears in the middle of the interface. Select any pattern from that list to apply it to your banner instantly, consuming the dye and pattern item in the process.
Step-by-step loom usage
- Place your blank banner in the leftmost slot of the Loom.
- Put a dye in the center slot to choose the pattern’s color.
- Add a banner pattern item in the rightmost slot if you want a specific design; leaving it empty shows basic patterns.
- Click a pattern from the middle list to apply it to your banner.
Adding multiple patterns and colors
You can layer multiple designs on a single banner to create complex, unique artwork. To do this, simply take the banner you just customized and place it back into the Loom’s leftmost slot, then add a new dye and, optionally, another pattern item. Each time you select a new pattern, it stacks on top of the previous designs, letting you combine borders, stripes, gradients, and shapes. For even more variety, use banner pattern items like the creeper charge, skull charge, or flower charge, these are crafted separately or found as loot, and they unlock special motifs that aren’t available in the basic pattern list.
Placing your finished banner
When your banner looks exactly how you want, take it from the Loom’s output slot and place it in the world. You can put it on the ground by right-clicking a block’s top surface, where it stands upright as a flag, or mount it on a wall by right-clicking the side of a block, where it hangs flat. Banners also attach to shields when combined in a crafting grid, letting you carry your custom design into battle. Once placed, you can break it with any tool to pick it back up and reposition it whenever you like.
