Freya is starting a craft blog for us! This week she teaches us how to make bunting.
By: Freya Liddell
Participating in art and crafts activities was one of my favourite pass-times as a child, with hours spent in after-school clubs sewing cushions, doing decoupage, painting pots and picture frames and generally making a mess. Although often more time was spent chatting and discussing the gossip of the day (Henry made me an advent calendar, what does it mean for our relationship???) and worrying about the health of our Tamagotchis rather than being creative, I nonetheless wish to share, among others, the projects and creations gleaned from these sessions. Whilst I unfortunately never developed any natural artistic ability (my art teachers explicitly advised against any continuation after year 9) and with my fervent aspirations of an A* in G.C.S.E. dashed, I still enjoyed pottering around with various artistic activities. I want to convey that any lack of artistic ability is no excuse for not attempting these projects, which are all very easy and relatively cheap to achieve, and ultimately provide a great excuse for procrastination.
This week: How to make bunting
Bunting is not only wonderful due to its connotations with quintessentially British national celebrations, (think Queen’s jubilee, London Olympics, garden parties, Pimm’s, etc.), but is also fantastic as an easy way to brighten up even the grimiest shoe box of a student room. My room at uni is slightly overwhelmed by bunting which creates the illusion of a fairy princess castle, not the ambience originally intended, having finally escaped from my lilac embossed walls at home, yet it still makes me happy to see these brightly coloured flags after a depressingly late night at the library. Homemade Bunting also creates an easy present idea, it’s difficult to go too far wrong and doesn’t take too long to assemble. Also homemade bunting is a lot cheaper than its shop bought equivalent, especially if using fabric you already have lying around or are willing to cut up various items of clothing (my pyjamas may or may not have been sacrificed).
You will need:
A sewing machine or a needle and thread
Bias binding (can be found online, or in craft shops)
Brightly coloured fabric
Ruler
Pencil
Scissors
Cardboard
Pins
1. The first steps are to choose the fabric, colour coordination and general pattern that you want for your bunting.
2. The next step is to draw and cut out a stencil of a triangle out of your cardboard. This should be the desired size of your bunting flags and helps to ensure that they are all roughly the same size.
3. Using your pencil, draw around the stencil on your chosen fabric and then proceed to cut out as many flags as you wish, depending on how long you want your bunting to be. (Tip: if you alternate upwards and downwards triangles you should to be able to get the most out of your fabric)
4. If you are feeling lazy and don’t have much material, skip to step 6.
However if you want to make your bunting look more professional, you should pin the patterned side of two triangles together. Next sew along the adjacent sides of the triangle as seen in the pictures below.
5. The next stage is to remove the pins and then turn the flags the right way round. To get a pointed triangle, poke a pen into the bottom tip for a more defined shape.
6. After creating your flags, iron them to remove any crinkles, and then pin the flags between the flaps of the bias binding around a centimetre apart. If you want, allow a wider space between the flags, but use a ruler to ensure that the gap is even. However don’t forget to leave a stretch of bias binding at each end to allow you to tie up the bunting to windows, fireplaces, doorways etc.
7. Finally, using a white thread sew just above the bottom edge of the bias binding, remove the pins and stand and stand back to admire your beautiful creation (and trust me, the sewing looks better from the other side of the room).