Children's room
If you are wanting to make bunting for a children’s room or nursery then you will want to make it with neat hemmed flags, and colour co-ordinated fabrics (and make sure that it is tied up out of little hands reach!). You may wish to co-ordinate fabric with the curtains and bedding fabric and make other accessories such as a fabric play tent, drawstring bag, or cushions to match. The fabric in these photos is from the prestigious My World collection.
How to make
Use bias binding for the tape or you can use a cotton tape. Using a triangle template if you are using triangle flags will make cutting your flags quicker. We have printable templates on our Pinterest board ‘Bunting’. If you have a rotary cutter and board then you will be able to cut your fabric around the template easily. Make your flags by sewing the right side of fabrics together up the two long sides, then turning inside out and sewing the bias binding over the top of each flag. Leave about a 7cm gap between each pennant and don’t forget to leave a long length at the end of your string for tying it.
Wedding or party
If you need to make a larger amount of bunting, perhaps for a wedding or garden party, then there is a quicker way to make longer lengths of bunting. You could cut your triangles with pinking shears and leave the flags single-sided; sew your flags to tape as usual. For a wedding you may want colour co-ordinated scraps but if for a garden party or to last a summer, you could use up fabric scraps or left-over pieces. For wedding bunting you could co-ordinate with a fabric draped backdrop for photos or use fabrics that match your bunting as tablecloths or chair drapes.
Alternatives
When making your bunting you could stick with the standard triangle flags or you could make flags more like a banner shape with an inverse triangle bottom (like a signalling flag). For weddings, instead of flags you could use fabric strips tied to a cord, or make fabric tassels. You could make long ribbon lengths of fabric to hang like a curtain, which would be a great way to add colour to your décor.
Whatever you choose, fabric is very versatile for use as bunting and as decorations for special rooms and occasions.
