Bunting for beginners

OK team, the sun has been shining this weekend and we only have a couple of weeks before Easter, so now is the time to get into your fabric stash and make some bunting.  If you don't have a stash, I am now going to lead you astray, go to your local fabric shop and ask to look at their fat quarters.  For those of you who have not come across this quilting term before a FQ is a piece of fabric 18 x 22 inches, cost is usually from £2.50 upwards.


And for the third week in a row, I am thrilled to be taking part in Wendy's Handmade Monday - do go and have a look at what the other people from UK Forum are up to... there are some awesome crafters out there.  Go on, take a look (but after you have read the tutorial :) )

What you need:

• Cutting mat and rotary cutters or a pair of dressmaking shears
• 3 fat quarters, sewing cotton
• 4 metres of bias binding, tape or ribbon (this may vary depending on how big a gap you leave between your flags)
• Iron and ironing board
• A chopstick!

1. Fold each of the FQs in half so that the fabric is 9" x 22", cut the fabric along the fold line.

2. Using the diagram cut out five pennants from each piece of fabric.  Save the scraps, as we are going to be making an applique cushion in a couple of weeks time.

3. Place the triangle template on the fabric.

4. Lift the pattern piece away from your ruler, cut the piece with your rotary cutter.  You will notice that the top of the triangle on my flags is blunt... that is because you do not sew right to the tip and this means I can squeeze a little more fabric into my flag.

 

5. Decide which order you want your bunting to follow.

6. Placing right sides together, stitch together the sides using a 1/2 inch seam allowance but leave the bottom open.

7. When you have completed all the triangles, trim the excess fabric away and turn the triangle inside out. 

8. Use the end of the chopstick to ensure that you get a nice pointy end to your pennant.

9. You will see a small excess triangle has appeared on both sides at the bottom, cut it off.  Now press each of the triangles.

10. Fold your tape in half and pin the triangles to the tape - spacing is down to you, some people like to place the pennants side by side but I like to space them out so that there is the space of a triangle between each pennant. 

11. I usually leave about a foot on each end of the bunting so that I am able to tie it round bed posts, trees etc.

12. Sew down your tape - you don't have to use just running stitch you can have a bit of fun and use a contrasting colour and use one of the fancy embroidery stitches on your machine that you have not found a use for yet.

13. Remember you can vary the size of your bunting, I like to use smaller bunting in nurseries and bedrooms, and larger flags outdoors.  

You might want to applique letters onto the bunting - I normally google for a good alphabet font to use but Skip to my Lou has a great alphabet to get you started -  Alphabet font

So there you have it, your bunting.  Get it out there for Easter and the Royal Wedding.

As an added incentive and as I am almost up to 2,000 page views, when I hit this figure I am going to pull a name of one of my followers out of a hat and make that person 10’ of bunting. They will get to choose colour, fabric pattern etc and whether it is for internal or external use. And I promise to try to get it to you in time for the royal wedding.

Good luck everyone!

PS - Would you find it helpful if I said how long the various project take?