Fat Quarter Bunting

As a little project for when the best friend came to stay - she had just got a sewing machine and she wanted to come and use mine to build up her confidence (it worked!) - We decided to make some very simple bunting out of fat Quarters.

This weekend the bunting I had made finally went up!

I do apologize in advance for the poor pictures in this post, it is really difficult to take good looking photos in a small attic room with bad lighting!

For the bunting we used six fat quarters, around about the size of a fat quarter pack, although some do only come with five. There are twelve triangles on my set of bunting, and from the same fat quarters we made another set of bunting.

To make the triangles we cut out a triangle template. The template would have fit on an A5 piece of paper, but you can make the template either larger or smaller depending on what size of triangle you want. Just make sure that your two long sides are the same length and then join them up at the top.

For the bunting triangle we cut out two sides which are then sewn together. We drew around the template eight times on each fat quarter to make four bunting triangles (one triangle for each side). This was done on each fat quarter. We then shared the triangles between two sets of bunting with twelve triangles on each.

The two triangles are placed right side together and pinned in place. Using a seam allowance of half an inch, sew along the two long sides of the triangle before turning it the right way out.

It is worth trimming the excess fabric along the bottom of the triangle before it is turned the right way out, this allows a much cleaner and sharper point. It can also be useful to use a knitting needle or a pencil to push the final bit of the point out.

Once all of the triangles have been sewn and turned the right way out, they would benefit from being ironed, which allows them to lie flat and look pretty! :)

To attach all the triangles together we used bias binding, as it can be folded over and sewn down so the raw edges at the top of the triangles are inside and hidden. The bias binding that we used was 25 mm thick and 2.5 meters long. The binding was from Hobbycraft and they come on a little roll, and one roll is 2.5 meters long, so to make two sets, we did use two rolls!

I rolled out the complete length of the binding, and started to place where the triangles would go. I marked the centre of the binding and put a triangle at half an inch from the centre, and another at half an inch the other side. Working out from the centre I was then able to fit all of the triangles on with a gap of an inch between them all. I then pinned them in place and ran a line of stitching along one crease in the bias binding. After that row of stitching I trimmed the edges of the triangles that stick up into the binding, making sure that they had flat tops, so I was able to fold the other side of the binding over and run a line of top stitching along it all to finish it off.

And there we go, fairly simple way of creating bunting! I was really quite pleased with the outcome, and you could make the bunting a lot more special by using scraps of fabric, perhaps some personalised birthday bunting with old baby clothes? Or you could create plain bunting and put letters on them to spell out a greeting or a name? The possibilities are plenty, and with a little bit of creativity you can create something very special, and personal!

A Little Bit of Bunting

Yet again I had another idea of what to do with my leftover project scraps, bunting! 

I find it cute and can be permanent or brought out for a special occasion. 

For my triangles, I used double knit yarn and a 4mm hook, although this really can be done with any sort of yarn and any hook!

Pattern:

Chain 2

Row 1: 2dc in second chain from hook, 1ch turn.

Row 2: 2dc in each dc, 1ch turn.

Row 3: 2dc in first dc, 1dc in every remaining dc, 1ch turn.

Repeat Row 3 as many times as needed. 

There is no set size to bunting triangles, they can be big, small, or all different sizes! I prefer all my triangles to be the same size, so when making them I've been comparing to other triangles that I've made so they all look the same size, even if the yarn is a different weight.

With all of your triangles made there are a couple of ways to put them all together in a string. The method I prefer is with ribbon. I have folded the ribbon in half and pinned it together and at intervals placed a triangle between the two sides of ribbon and then sewn the edges together, but I would suggest only doing that if you have a sewing machine, as a line of bunting can be quite long! 

The other option is to crochet a line to put them onto, this can be done by crocheting a string of a few rows and sewing the triangles on, or when chaining the string, chain into the top of the triangles, then work a couple of rows to give the string more strength.