2019 The Year of Bunting: Why Bunting is Best

January 1, 2019 · 6 Comments

I’ve decided that 2019 will be the Year of Bunting.

This time last year I wrote a post about what I learnt in 2017. For various reasons I don’t want to write a similar post at the moment. I learnt plenty of things, but not all of them good or related to sewing and making stuff!

2018 was an odd year at Tea and a Sewing Machine HQ. Although nobody here died, got divorced or became seriously ill, I’m still quite glad to see the end of it and I’m looking forward to 2019.

In the words of my favourite folk singer, “Just take with you what makes your heart glad,” and bunting makes my heart glad.

Here are some reasons why bunting is best.

1. It’s impossible to look at a row of little flags fluttering cheerfully in the breeze and not feel at least a little bit happy.

Bunting has never solved anybody’s problems. But one thing I have learnt is that sometimes, simple things make you happy. If you’re not happy, then things that otherwise would make you happy at least make things less bad.

2. Bunting turns any occasion into a special day.

A bit of advice that comes up time and again is that we shouldn’t hang around waiting for a special occasion. If you have nice perfume or bath stuff, just use it. And any little thing can be turned into a reason for a celebration with bunting and cake!

3. Making basic bunting is very easy and quick.

Just cut some triangles from cotton or polycotton, then sew them to some bias binding. If you have more time, you can make 2 of each triangle and sew them together. For a special occasion (or just because you want to), you can add appliqued letters or shapes, embroidery, fabric flowers or whatever you like!

4. It’s a good way to use up fabric from other projects.

You can also use fat quarter packs you bought but couldn’t decide what to do with!

So as well as making something cheery that makes other people and yourself feel happy, it makes your fabric mountain a bit smaller.

5. You can go all out and hang yards and yards of it out in your garden, or you can make a bit and hang it up indoors.

Or if that’s still too much, you can just make a little bit of mini bunting and put it on a dresser, a bookcase or a fireplace.

6. Although usually made from triangles of cotton or polycotton, it can also be made from ribbon, felt, lace, doilies or paper.

The flags don’t have to be triangles either. They can be any shape you like!

how to make paper bunting tutorial easy instructions template bunting is best

7. It’s easy to add appliqued bunting to a cushion or a bag.

Just cut some triangles, sew them on, then sew ribbon or bias binding over the top of the triangles to join them together.

8. You can make bunting for any season.

Choose appropriate colours and add appliqued letters or shapes if you want to.

I made autumn bunting once with trees in autumn colours. I’ve also made some with a spring theme for the garden, and summer and Christmas bunting for the front of my house.

12 tips for making bunting 12 things to sew in the autumn bunting is best

So this year I’m going to be making lots of bunting themed things. Will you join me?

Easiest Bunting Tutorial Ever

July 12, 2018 · 2 Comments

Easiest Bunting Tutorial Ever

Making bunting isn’t especially difficult, but there are several ways of going about it. Some ways are more time consuming than others.

Taking your time over it is fine if you’re only making a bit, or if you need it to be special.

One of my favourite bits of bunting I’ve made is this with the trees . Although it didn’t take an age to make, it did take a little while! I made the templates for the trees, backed the fabric with interfacing, cut everything out, appliqued the trees to the flags, sewed the flags up then sewed the flags to the bias binding.

I love my tree bunting and it lives in my kitchen!

If you need to make a lot of bunting, or if you just want to make some quickly to put up in the garden (or on the front of your house to distract attention away from peeling paint!), then you need a plan for getting it done with the minimum amount of faffing about.

So here’s the easiest bunting tutorial ever!

How to Make Bunting the Easy Way

You Will Need

Cotton or polycotton fabric
Bias binding
Bunting template
Scissors or rotary cutter
Bunting template (make your own or you can have mine in exchange for an email address)
Pins
Sewing machine (you could sew the flags by hand but a sewing machine will be quicker!)

Making the Bunting

1. Make your template. Once you’ve printed it out, you could stick it to a piece of cardboard. This will make it easier to cut round if you’re using a rotary cutter. There are bunting templates here.

2. Cut your fabric into strips the same width as the the length of the flag.

3. Line the top edge of the flag up with the top edge of the strip. Now fold the strip so that you end up with several thicknesses of fabric the same width as the top of the flag. Keep the fabric folded. Don’t cut it into squares!

4. Cut the fabric along the sides of the template. You’ll find that as well as the flags in the centre, you’ll have some extra ones at the sides too.

5. Take your bias binding and unroll about a metre. Fold it half lengthways and press it with your finger.

6. Leaving a bit free at the end for tying (15 – 20 cm or 6 – 7″ is probably enough), slip one of the flags inside the bias binding and pin it. Start sewing from the end of the bias binding, keeping close to the open edge. Keep sewing the bias binding past the flag.

7. Leave a bit of a gap (keep sewing though!) then slip another flag in. You’ll have to stop every so often to fold the bias binding in half, but I do this while sitting at the sewing machine.

Keep going until you run out of flags or bias binding!

Tips

You can use fabric you have already, but if you’re worried about colour combinations, you could use a fat quarter pack. You’ll only get about 8 flags out of a fat quarter though.

If you are using fabric from your hoard and you’re not sure about choosing things that go together, pick a favourite print, then choose some plain fabric, spots and/ or checks in similar colours.

If you’re concerned that the fabric might fray badly, you could iron on some fusible interfacing first.

Using a fabric with a directional print will mean that either some of your flags will be upside down, or you’ll have to discard the upside down ones. Non directional prints are better for this.

Polycotton works just as well as cotton as you’ll be unlikely to be washing it very much. It’s also cheaper and less likely to fray.

If you liked this bunting tutorial, you might also like these:

Cushion cover with appliqued bunting

Shopping bag with appliqued bunting

How to make paper bunting

12 Tips For Making Bunting

September 23, 2016 · 2 Comments

12 Tips For Making Bunting

It probably comes as no surprise that I love bunting!

At home I have it everywhere. I even have mini bunting for the Christmas tree! I had it across the front of my house too until some bright spark decided to swing on the hanging basket and the bracket I’d tied the bunting too came off the wall.

There’s something so cheery about those little flags, and it makes me think of a time when life was perhaps simpler.

I recently made some autumn themed bunting for a guest post I wrote for All Free Sewing and Seam and Scissors for National Sewing Month.

The flags are made from plain cotton from the Kona Solids range. For the trees, I chose patterned fabric in autumn colours. The trunks of the trees are made from felt. There’s a template you can download for the trees if drawing is not your thing. You can read the full tutorial here.

And if you live in the US or Canada you can win a sewing machine, so when you’ve finished reading this, hop over there and have a look!

12 Tips For Making Bunting

As I make bunting quite a lot, I’m going to share with you 12 tips for making bunting.

1. Make a template out of cardboard. A cereal packet will do, but a cardboard box is better because it’s thicker.

2. When you are cutting out, draw round the template onto fabric first. If you flip the template upside down for every second flag, you’ll get more flags out of your fabric.

3. If you are making a lot of bunting, don’t bother drawing round the template, just cut round it with a rotary cutter. It’s much quicker that way!

4. Quilting weight cotton is nice to work with. However, if you are on a budget, polycotton is fine. You are unlikely to need to wash your bunting so the issue of polycotton going bobbly in the wash won’t be a problem.

5. Use bias binding to string the flags together. Fold the bias binding in half, slip the flags in between the fold and sew them in place.

6. It’s easiest to keep the bias binding on the roll and unroll and fold as you go.

7. If you are in a hurry, fuse some interfacing onto the back of your fabric and cut out one set of flags instead of 2. Then just sew them straight to the bias binding. This way works better if you’re using polycotton as it doesn’t fray as much as cotton.

8. If you are appliqueing shapes to your bunting, keep them simple. It’ll make it much easier to sew round them!

9. Before appliqueing shapes to the flags, fuse some interfacing to the shapes and to the wrong side of the flags. This will make the shapes less likely to fray and the flags less like to pucker.

10. Bunting is great for using up small bits of fabric left over from other projects! If you’ve been sewing for a while, you probably have something you can use already. If you don’t have anything in your fabric pile but you don’t want to buy more fabric, consider using old clothes (shirts are great), tea towels, duvets or tablecloths.

11. Bunting doesn’t just have to be made from fabric! You could try paper. Scrapbooking paper is good because it’s nice and thick. Another alternative would be plastic. For this you could use shopping bags or a plastic tablecloth.

12. Experiment with bunting of different sizes. Smaller flags are great for hanging on dressers and Christmas trees. I have Christmas tree bunting kits for sale on Etsy! Tiny flags can be added to wreaths. You could sew bunting to a cushion or a bag.

Don’t forget to pop over to All Free Sewing to enter the sewing machine competition!

How to Make a Bunting Cushion

March 22, 2016 · 10 Comments

How to Make a Bunting Cushion

As much as I love bunting, there is a limit to how much of it you can have strung up about the place. A bunting cushion is a nice, easy way of adding the same cheeriness but without tying yourself up in the real thing every time you walk across a room.

A bunting cushion is also a great way to use up bits of fabric left over from other projects. I actually didn’t buy any stuff to make this at all! The canvas was left over from curtains I made when we moved into our house 13 years ago (I have also used some of it to make a shopping bag with bunting on it!) and the bunting itself is made from odds and ends from my scraps bag. The ribbon I also had already and I used the pad from another cushion.

Instructions for Making a Bunting Cushion

You Will Need: triangle template, plain fabric, scraps of pattern fabric, fusible interfacing, ribbon, a cushion pad.

Making the Template

If you need more detailed instructions for doing this, please take a look at this bunting tutorial here. The measurements are different but the process is the same.

On a piece of paper, draw a line 7 cm long. Find the centre of the line and draw another line 7.5 cm long and at right angles to the first line so that it looks like a T.

Join the the ends of the first line to the end of the second line to make a triangle. Cut it out.

Making the Cushion

1. Fuse the interfacing to the scraps of fabric.

2. Decide how many triangles you need and cut them out. For my 40 cm cushion I used 8 triangles.

3. Cut out your plain fabric for the cushion cover. You will need 1 piece slightly bigger than your cushion pad and 2 pieces the same width but longer, so that they overlap on the back.

Using canvas meant that it was fine as it was. If you are using a lighter fabric, it might need interfacing.

4. Hem the back pieces.

5. On the front section, arrange the triangles in 2 rows. Remember to leave space around the edge for the seam allowance! Pin the triangles in place.

6. Sew around the edges of the triangles. I left the tops and just sewed around the side.

7. Sew the ribbon on so that it covers the tops of the triangles. You could pin it first. I didn’t because I didn’t want the pins to mark the satin.

8. With the wrong sides together, place the top back section over the front so that the top and the sides are aligned and the hemmed edge is somewhere in the middle. Do the same with the bottom so that the bottom edges are together.

9. Sew all around the outside edge.

10. Trim the seams and cut off the corners. Turn the cushion cover the right way out and give it the once over with the iron. Stuff the cushion pad inside.

Decide where you’re going to put your bunting cushion and enjoy its pretty cheeriness!

Linking up here.

How to Make Spring Bunting

March 11, 2016 · 14 Comments

How to Make Spring Bunting

It will probably come as no surprise if I tell you that I love bunting.

I have bunting hanging up in my living room, in the kitchen and on the dresser. I did have bunting on the front of my house too, until some clown or other decided to swing on the brackets and it ended up adorning the pavement. I even have bunting on my blog header!

There’s something very cheery about those little flags and it’s possible to decorate the flags for a particular purpose, to spell out a word or by appliquing pictures to them.

So this week I have made some spring bunting.

How to Make Spring Bunting

You Will Need: card (a cereal packet will do), a ruler and a pencil, cotton or polycotton fabric (I got mine from Ebay but there are some nice fabric packs on Hobbycraft that are not too expensive Hobbycraft), fusible interfacing or Bondaweb, bias binding (affiliate links).

Making the Template

If you don’t want to make your own template, you can download one for free here!

1. On a piece of card, draw a line 20 cm long.

2. Find the middle. Draw a second line 20 cm long from middle of the first line and at right angles to it.

3. Join the end of this line to the ends of the first line to form a triangle.

4. To make the lettering, you could either draw them, or you could find a nice, simple font on the computer and print out the letters. Cut your templates out.

Making the Bunting

1. Decide how many flags you will need. Obviously you will need 6 for the word spring, then how many extra flags is up to you. 8 or 10 in total would be good.

2. For each flag, cut 2 triangles. If you are using the free template, you will need to add 1 cm to the sides for the seam allowance.

3. Decide on the order for the flags. Put them to one side.

4. Iron on some fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric you will be using for the lettering. If you have Bondaweb, fab! If not, don’t worry.The interfacing will do the job, It’s just that the Bondaweb will make things slightly easier as you can fuse it to the flags before sewing (affiliate links).

5. Cut the letters out.

6. If you are using Bondaweb, fuse the letters to the flags. Otherwise pin them on. Then applique the letters to the flags.

7. To make the first flag, take 2 triangles. With wrong sides together, pin, then sew the sides, leaving the top open.

8. Trim the seams and cut across the corner, Turn the right way out.

9. Repeat for the other flags. Run the iron on them so that they look neat.

10. Take the bias binding and start folding it in half lengthways. It is easiest to leave it on the roll and unwind it as you go.

11. Sew along where you have folded. Make sure that you allow enough to tie your bunting onto something. Then slip the first flag in where you have folded. Continue sewing along the bias tape until you have sewn the flag in place.

12 Leave a gap of a cm or 2, then slip the next flag in between the fold. Sew.

Keep going in this way until you have sewn in all the flags. Leave a similar length of bias binding at the end for tying and sew along this too.

Here are some reasons why bunting is best.

1. It’s impossible to look at a row of little flags fluttering cheerfully in the breeze and not feel at least a little bit happy.

2. Bunting turns any occasion into a special day.

3. Making basic bunting is very easy and quick.

4. It’s a good way to use up fabric from other projects.

5. You can go all out and hang yards and yards of it out in your garden, or you can make a bit and hang it up indoors.

6. Although usually made from triangles of cotton or polycotton, it can also be made from ribbon, felt, lace, doilies or paper.

7. It’s easy to add appliqued bunting to a cushion or a bag.

8. You can make bunting for any season.

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Easiest Bunting Tutorial Ever

How to Make Bunting the Easy Way

You Will Need

Making the Bunting

Tips

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12 Tips For Making Bunting

12 Tips For Making Bunting

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How to Make a Bunting Cushion

Instructions for Making a Bunting Cushion

Making the Template

Making the Cushion

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How to Make Spring Bunting

How to Make Spring Bunting

Making the Template

Making the Bunting

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