bunting – something from seaview

Earlier this year we heard the lovely news that Jak and Ellie were going to get married this autumn. How exciting! What could we contribute (other than the usual parental support)? The idea of bunting was floated – not sure where it came from – but, yes, of course we could make bunting!

I’ve never made bunting before, so the first thing was to check out websites. I gathered that a lot of bunting is made by seaming two triangles together and then turning the sewing inside out. However, I was in a rush – and had a lot of bunting to make, so my heart lifted when I found a site that recommended using pinking shears to cut out each triangle. So much easier, Here is the template I used. I have to admit I wasn’t very systematic with my bunting factory. I started with a pile of suitable fabric that I found in my stash, and added to it with a couple of brightly-coloured dresses bought from a charity shop. Soon the fabric began to morph from a wild heap to tidy piles of coloured triangles.Digging deep into my stash, I also found a large collection of bits and pieces of bias binding that my mother had given me when she gave up sewing. So with all the goodies assembled, I was ready to start putting it all together. Searches on line indicated that the distance between the placing of each individual flag varied enormously. I chose to place my bunting pieces half the width of a flag apart Here is my nifty little measuring card to help me measure quickly and efficiently.Then the bias binding was pinned over the top of each bunting flag.Ready for machining now.A little trial with our first small stream of bunting. Yes, it’s OK! The cat and the man were happy!Meanwhile, we started working on another string of bunting. This one was going to have words on it, so we had to do letters. Stephen printed out some good size letters on the computer.Using these letters as a template, I cut them out in fabric.We bought some spray glue, and did a couple of test sprays to see how effective it was, and whether it marked the fabric too much. If we sprayed glue on both surfaces (as advised) the fabric was very marked when dry (right hand sample).So we decided to spray just the back of each letter, and then press the letter onto the bunting flag firmly. Easier said than done! The glue was very sticky indeed, and the operation had to be completed quite quickly. Just everything got gluey and sticky – and the finished effect was OK, but not brilliant.So here’s the letter bunting ready for sticking – after Poe’s inspection, of course.The bunting was finally ready to send to Cornwall for installation in the pub (the Ferryboat Inn at Helford Passage). Before we sent it off, I couldn’t resist hanging the bunting on our Northumbrian cottage. So, on a wild and windy day, we forayed out and wrapped the bunting three times across the length of the house.It did look lovely fluttering in the wind. Now we were ready to prepare it for postage. We’d been warned that loose bunting knots up very quickly, so the bunting was carefully wound round a piece of strong cardboard, and posted off to Cornwall the week before we travelled there ourselves.On the morning of the wedding, we visited the pub and found the manager hanging up our bunting.They’d decided to hang the lettered bunting over the bar (amid the toilet and pool table signs…..) This wasn’t the best bunting we made – the glue showed through the light-coloured letters, and it was hard to make out the writing clearly because I’d used such strong colours.The rest of the bunting looked great. There was masses and masses of it – Stephen reckoned we had made over 160 feet – so it was hung everywhere, including outside.Worth all the effort – it really made the place look partyish. I wonder where it will be hung next?!