Sewing a Halloween Pennant Bunting

Want to know a secret?  When I found out I only had one day to pack and leave for this new ice show, I spent a little bit of time packing and a whole lot of time finishing up and photographing all the craft projects that I had been working on at home.  I guess it’s pretty obvious where my priorities lie.

This string of Halloween flags is the last of those projects from home, and looking through the pictures this afternoon, I really wished I were still there.

That’s my mom in the picture with me.  (Hi, Mom!)

I’ve been gone for two weeks, and I bet those leaves are all yellow now.

I used my mom’s sewing machine to make these flags, and I didn’t use a pattern; I just made one up as I went along.

For six double-sided flags, I used two quarters of fabric from Fancy Tiger Crafts.  I strung them together using double fold bias tape.

To begin, I drew a triangle on my fabric that was 8 inches wide and 10 inches long.  Then I cut it out and used it as a stencil to trace and cut out five more triangles on that fabric and six triangles on the other fabric.

Next, I made six triangle sandwiches, using a triangle from both fabric colors for each sandwich, with the front sides of the fabric facing in.  I pinned two of the sides together and left the 8-inch top unpinned.  

Then I sewed along all the pinned sides.  I left the unpinned side un-sewn on each triangle so that I could reach inside each triangle and turn it right-side-out.  

Once they were right-side-out, I ironed each of the triangles so they had nice crisp edges and then top stitched around all of their edges (including the edge that hadn’t been sewn shut before).

Now that I had six finished triangles, I drew myself a little diagram to decide exactly where to place the flags on the bias tape.  I settled on 2 inches between each flag.

I snuggled the 8-inch edge of each triangle inside the fold of the bias tape and pinned it together.

After the triangles were all pinned to the bias tape, I sewed along the bottom edge of the tape, took out the pins, and I was finished.

I’m super happy with the finished product!

The only detail that I didn’t love was the way the bias tape was folded.  When I took it out of the package, it wasn’t folded perfectly down the middle.  I left it the way it was, but if I were to make this project again, I think I would try to fix it with an iron.

Do you know if all bias tape is folded ever so slightly off center, or do you think I just got a funny one?  If you were making this project, would you bother to re-iron the fold to make it perfect?

Either way, I’m proud of this little project, and I’ve currently got it hanging in my cabin on the ship, spreading some fall cheer.

Happy sewing!

xoxo

Laura

A Washi Tape Birthday Card

Hi Guys!

I was in Target the other day and low and behold, it's already time to buy school supplies. Isn't it still July?  Anyway, as I was walking by, I realized that they were selling 4-packs of Target brand washi tape for $4 and I couldn't resist it.  I decided to use it to make my grandmother this birthday card:

The Supplies I used are:

1. Blank notecard
2. Construction paper
3. Washi tape
4. Embroidery floss
5. Push pin
6. Scissors
7. Tape
8. Glue
9. Black sharpie
10. Toothpicks

Here's how to make the flags:

1. Cut out one little flag shape from white construction paper.


2. Use the first flag as a stencil to draw 5 more flags that match the first one and cut them out.


3. Cover each little flag with washi tape by placing the flag on the sticky side of the tape and cutting around it.


4. Use a push pin to make 2 little holes in the top corners of a flag.


5. Thread embroidery floss through the little holes.


6. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with all the other flags so they are all strung together on a line.


7. Tape the ends of the embroidery floss to the back and inside of the card.


8. Place a loop of tape on the back of each flag to stick it down on the card.

Once you've made the flags, it's time for all the finishing touches:

1.  Stick a long strip of washi tape onto the white construction paper and write the card's message on it.  (I had my awesome big sister do this part for me because her handwriting is significantly better than mine.)  If you have stamp letters, I think it would also look really great to stamp your message instead of writing it.

2.  Cut out the message in the shape of a long flag.

3.  Glue the long flag message(s) to the upper right hand side of the card.

4.  Cut off the pointy ends of 2 toothpicks, then glue them together on the edge of the card so they look like a flag pole.

5.  Cover the whole back of the card with washi tape so that you cover up the place where you taped the end of the embroidery floss to the back of the card.

6.  Also cover the upper inside part of the card for the same reason that you covered the back.

Now you should have a fun, handmade card to write in and mail!
Happy taping!
xoxo
Laura