How to Make a Fabric Bunting Banner - Easy Sewing Project

Cut a rectangle of card 6 inches wide and 8 inches tall. Mark the middle of the bottom edge, 3 inches in from each side. Draw a line from each top corner down to that mark, then cut along the lines. You now have a triangle template you can use again and again, so every flag comes out the same size.

Lay out your fabric folded double so you cut two triangles at once. Place the template on top and either trace around it and cut with scissors, or cut straight along the edges with a rotary cutter. Flip the template each time so the triangles nest together and you waste less fabric. Every flag needs a front and a back.

Give the cut triangles a quick press so they lie flat. Then decide how you want the flags to look. Alternating the fabrics on the front and back means the pattern shows whichever way the bunting hangs. Place two triangles with their right sides facing each other and the edges lined up. Pin them or hold them with quilting clips.

Sew down one long edge, pivot at the point and sew up the other long edge. Leave the short top edge open so you can turn the flag later. Keep a quarter inch seam allowance all the way round. You can feed the pairs through one after another without cutting the thread between them, which makes a big batch go quickly.

Once the pairs are sewn, trim the extra fabric off the point of each flag. Cut across the tip close to the stitching, but do not cut through it. Less bulk at the point means a sharper, neater tip when you turn the flag out. Take out any pins now too, so they do not catch when you turn the fabric.

Push the point of the flag through the open top and turn it right side out. Then use something blunt, like a chopstick or the end of a paintbrush, to gently ease the point out from the inside. Do not use anything sharp, or you may poke a hole through the tip. Run your fingers along the seams to roll them out to the edge.

Press the turned flag with a hot iron so the seams sit right on the edges and the flag lies flat. That flag is done. Repeat the sewing, trimming, turning and pressing for all the other flags before you move on to the tape. Pressing now makes a big difference to how neat the finished bunting looks.

Pull out a couple of feet of tape from the roll and leave it loose. That end is for tying up the bunting. Lay the tape flat, place the top edge of the first flag on it, and fold the tape over so it wraps the raw edge on both sides. Hold it in place with a couple of quilting clips.

Leave a gap before the next flag. The spacing is up to you. Use something you always have to hand as a gauge, such as three fingers laid side by side. Fold the tape over the next flag and clip it. You can clip all the flags on before you sew, or add them one at a time as you go through the machine.

Sew along the folded tape close to its open edge, catching the top of each flag as you go. Remove each clip as it reaches the presser foot. If you add flags as you sew, slip the next one in with your three finger gap and keep stitching. When the last flag is on, leave another couple of feet of tape and cut it from the roll.