Halloween Bunting Tutorial

Raise your hand if you've ever drooled over the Pottery Barn catalog.

Page after page of beautiful home decor and each one finds me foaming more than the last.  Thankfully the checkbook snaps me back to reality rather quickly.

This was my inspiration!

The Trick or Treat bunting above the doorway.  Isn't that just adorable!  Sure is, but not $29.99 plus shipping and handling adorable.  Etsy wasn't any better.  Some of them were selling for $40.

If I can't buy it on the cheap, my only option is to make it myself!

Off to Hobby Lobby, where I chose one yard each of three coordinating Halloween fabrics.  On sale for $5.59 a yard and a $2 spool of 2 inch wide ribbon that I thought was 48 feet long.
 
I had an idea of what I wanted the flags to look like so I just played around folding a sheet of newspaper until I got the desired shape.

My flags are 9 1/2 inches across the top and 12 inches long.  I added a 5/8 seam allowance and cut a pattern that size.  A rotary cutter made cutting the fabric pieces easier and I also flipped my template as I cut, so as not to waste any fabric. (Note-With fabrics that have an obvious picture or words, every other flag will be upside down, but that's OK, I just used that piece on the backside, where no one would see.)

 I now had 26 plus flags cut out.  I put two of the same triangles right sides together and sewed down the length of the two long sides, leaving the top open.  Repeat 12 times.  Trim the tip off the bottom and then a little up the sides. (about 2 inches)  This will prevent a big bulge at the tip of your flag when you turn them right side out.  Turn and press.  Crafting is the only thing I use my iron for LOL.

You now have 13 flags.  Trim the little bit of seam that's showing at the top and any hanging threads.

Back to the ironing board.  Take the entire 12 feet of ribbon, fold the width in half and iron.  Fold that in half lengthwise and pin the center.  Now take a flag and pin the center of the top of the flag to the center of the folded ribbon.  I then pinned 6 flags on the right, alternating the designs and then mirrored the pattern on the left.  I just thought it would look cool that way.  I also didn't leave any space in between, just pinned one flag directly next to the last one.

Once everything was pinned, I started at one end and stitched very closely to the edge of the ribbon all the way to the other end.  I had about 12 inches left on each end and so I made a loop on each end for hanging.

I think I like it just the way it is, without the lettering, but I am going to add those plastic spider rings on the ribbon in between each of the flags.  It's really hard to get a decent picture of the whole thing, I hope you can get the idea.

I also had enough fabric left to make 9 more flags, and I should have some leftover black ribbon in my stash, so I'll be making another bunting for Augie Dawgs!

If I'm feeling really ambitious I may make a birthday bunting for the boys, and Christmas and Easter.  It was a quick and easy craft, just the way I like them.  Who knows, maybe I'll make one for a giveaway.  What do you think?  Would you enter a giveaway if that was the prize?  Or would you make one yourself?