I apologise right up front for the cheesy heading!
This week it was my niece Maddison’s fourth birthday (happy birthday, beautiful girl!). I made her a personalised bunting, which was a lot of fun, and I thought you might want to make some too.
You will need:
Scraps of fabric in a variety of patterns
Fusible interfacing (iron on)
Pinking Shears + regular scissors
Cardboard for cutting out templates
Sewing machine
Iron
1. First up decide on the size of your bunting and cut out a template using a piece of card. My triangles are 11cm x 12cm (about 4.5″ x 4.7″).
2. Using the pinking shears cut out the flags. If possible cut the flags out so the top of the flag is a fold- this wasn’t always possible using fabric scraps- but if you can manage it great… if not cut two triangles per flag (so they are double sided). If you dont have pinking shears you are going to want to serge/zig zag the edges, or fold under and seam them together so they don’t fray. Pinking shears = so much easier!
3. Next cut a slightly smaller template (10cm x 11cm) for cutting your fusible interfacing, and using regular scissors cut out your interfacing – 1 triangle per flag.
4. Put an interfacing triangle inside the two pieces of fabric (right sides facing outwards) and iron to join them together. This has two benefits- it makes the flag nice and stiff so it has plenty of body and also means you don’t have to pin your flags together before you sew them (YAY!)…
5. Sew along the seam of the flag close to the sheared edge.
6. If you are going to add a name or writing (happy birthday, welcome home, a new baby…) to your bunting now is the time to cut out your letters and sew them onto the flags. I just free hand drew my letters onto felt then cut and using a glue stick stuck them to the flags before sewing in place. You can always print an alphabet off in word and cut out the letters in card to make templates. Felt is great for lettering because it doesn’t fray.
8. I use 2.5cm (about 1 inch) wide bias binding to attach my flags to. Iron in half lengthwise first then insert the top edge of each flag into the fold and pin in place. Measure to ensure your flags are equal distances apart… leave at least 50cm of binding at each end of the bunting.
9. Using a BIG zig zag stitch sew the entire length of the binding catching the top of each flag in between. I discovered the beauty of using a large zig zag when making babies nappies… it makes it so much easier to catch fabric underneath… a straight stitch makes it too easy to miss!
10. Clip all loose threads, hang and enjoy!
What was life like before blogging? I so enjoy seeing all the creativity on everybody’s pages. Well done!
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Beautiful, what a lovely gift…..I have thirty pieces of individual bunting to sew together pressing on my mind, so I Must get my sewin machine out.
Ar those oranges? Wow!
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It’s not so bad p ce you get started! They are actually big huge meyer lemons… We grow big citrus here 🙂
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What a great tutorial! Thank you!
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I really like buntings and this one is so lovely!!
It’s time to dust the sewing machine…!!!
xxx, Alessandra
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Lovely tutorial Janette… thanks! Happy Birthday to your little niece. ….I’m gathering plans for my daughters wedding in 18 months…bunting would be a great idea… especially personalized. How lovely to have your own lemon tree in your garden…. :)x
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You make me want to do things I have no reason to do! 🙂 So much fun to read your posts, Janette! 🙂
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Me again! Just wanted to let you know that I have just posted on the blog about your squares for the BBB 2012…thanks so much for joining in Janette.. they are lovely! :)x
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Fabulous bunting! I’ve been crocheting some myself, using Lucy’s pattern, for my cousin’s baby. And I love your BBB squares too. Judy xx
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Great tutorial.. thanks for the idea!! Needed a sign so bad for my craft market this weekend.. wasnt sure what to do then I cam across this.. mine turned out fabulous.. the only thing i did different was iron on fused the felt letters on… rather then sew_ looks great
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So glad it turned out well, what a great idea for a craft stall stand!
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Many thanks for such clear instructions. I really need pics when trying anything new. Feel much more confident now about having a go. Cheers, Margaret.
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I love it and I love that your Maddiosn is spelled with two Ds, my Maddison is as well, she is 1 year old. 🙂
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Maddison should definitely have two dd’s! Xx
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What a great detailed tutorial. I like the edging you have put on the triangles. It stops its being ordinary and makes it extremely extraordinary.
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Hi! I love your tutorial, but I have a quick question. All the fusible interfacing I’ve ever used is only fusible on one side. If using only 1 triangle per flag, how do the two sides stick together? Wouldn’t the interfacing fuse to only one side? Thanks in advance for your answer. Just making sure I’m not supposed to use 2 triangles…
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Hi Beth, this was fusible on both sides holding the flags to together. Shouldn’t matter tho, unless you weren’t planning on sewing them? Good luck! J xx
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This is the best bunting tutorial! I used it a couple of years ago and forgot to pin it, I’ve just spent ages searching and just found it AND pinned onto my sewing board. Thank you x
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