Sunday 24 April 2011

Bunting Tutorial

Everywhere you look at the moment bunting is the in-thing, for street parties, birthdays and bank holidays, a few flags fluttering in the breeze seem to be an absolute requirement. I saw some cute bunting in a shop in Leicestershire earlier in the week, but it was pricey, and would only really suit the royal wedding on Friday, so I decided (with some encouragement from my eldest daughter) to make my own.
So if you would like to have a go at making your own multi-purpose, double sided bunting, then take a look at how I did it below!!

Supplies
Gingham Fat quarters.
I bought a set on offer in Hobbycraft as It meant I didn't have to worry about wrong and right sides to the fabric, and they gave me 2 colour themes to use, one red, white and blue for an up coming wedding, the other pink, green and yellow for spring or general use.
White bias binding (wide, 7m)
A4 card
Pencil and ruler
Pins
Sewing machine
Pinking shears and dressmaking scissors.
Thread; red and white

Step 1; Making the template.
Unfold the fat quarter into a rectangle with 4 layers. (a)
Take the card, fold in half at the bottom only to find the mid point, then use a ruler to draw a line parallel with the bottom of the card, and mark the mid point.(c)
Next, draw lines from the mid point to the top corners of the card on the left and right to form a triangle. Cut out the card and you have your template.

Step 2. Pinning and cutting.
Place the template onto the folded fabric, with the raw edge at the bottom, pin in place. (f) Cut down the edges with pinking shears, (g) try to match the pattern up as you go for a neater finish. The top of the flags can be cut using ordinary dressmaking scissors.
Do this for all the colours you require. I cut out red and two shades of blue for one side of the bunting, and the spring colours for the other side.

Once you have cut out you will notice that 2 of the folded edges also form triangles (j) and when you unfold these (k) they make 2 extra flags. Each fat quarter will give you 6 flags.

Step 3; Sewing the flags.

Pin contrasting flags wrong sides together with one of each colour choice on each side ie; red, white and blue for one side, spring colours on the other. If you want to turn your flags so they have neat edges (I didn't, I just left the pinked edges and stitching showing) pin them right side together. Then use the machine to stitch them down each pinked side only. I used red thread for the red, white and blue side of the bunting (the top of the sewing) and white for the underside pastel flags (fill the bobbin with white).


Step 4 Make up the bunting.
Cut 3.5 m of bias binding, and start to put the top of the flags inside the binding (v) after leaving 40cm at the ends for tying onto things. Leave 11cm between each flag, fold over the binding and pin the whole length. (x) Make sure your flags are on the right side (ie all the red white and blue facing the same way). Stitch along the bias binding (I used zig zag, you could use straight or a decorative stitch if you have a fancier sewing machine than mine!)

Step 5 Finishing off
If your bunting flags don't match exactly, and one side overhangs a little, you can trim them once they are made using pinking shears. Press your bunting, tie it up and then enjoy!

15 comments:

Linda said...

What a great post! Fabulous tutorial - I really should make some bunting too, your looks fabulous:)

Connie Mercer said...

loved your tutorial~just wish i could sew, but i do think i could make this!! Thanks for the inspiration!!!

Carol Anne said...

What a great tutorial! I'll have to whip up something like that for our back deck this summer. I know just where to put them. Thanks for sharing!

Sian said...

Thanks for dropping by my blog from class :)

When my daughter was ten, I think, we had a bunting sewing birthday party for her. It was gingham, just like your lovely set, and each of the party guests had letters to pin on to spell out their name. Then while they were eating, my sister and I sewed it all together for them.

Angelfish said...

Your bunting looks brilliant Ann:)
What a great idea for a birthday too Sian.
Fiona x

furrypig said...

I love your bunting and your tutorial makes me think that even I might be able to put it together so thank you xxx

Sue Jones said...

Looks Great :D I do love buntins

scrappyjacky said...

Your bunting looks great....and a really useful tutorial....thanks.

Scrappy~Sarah said...

a perfect tutorial. love the photo at the end :)

Denise said...

Saying Hi from Shimelle's class. I love your tutorial - makes me think even I could make some !

Valerie S said...

Hi from Shimelle's class. I hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. I really like that you included a tutorial on your blog, and I love the beautiful header!

Hedgehog Reader said...

What a fabulous project - and awesome tutorial - I'm ready to give it a whirl myself! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog, fellow classmate! :o)0

Anonymous said...

Hello from Blogging class. Thanks for the how-to! Must try this!

Lisa-Jane said...

Aha, this is why you spotted the bunting on my layout! I keep meaning to make some for my daughter's bedroom but didn't know where to start so thank you for sharing!

Eve said...

Hi, the parallel line you draw on the card after folding but before marking the mid point - how far up from the bottom is that? Thanks a lot.