Bunting at Luxembourg Fabric Festival 2018

My daughter is living in Germany, and Luxembourg the country and city is located just a few miles across the western border of Germany.  She went to the Fabric Festival there, about three weeks ago.  Maybe it was in February?
She posted gobs of photos on her Facebook page.  She has tolerated me needing to stop at quilt shops across this country when we have traveled, and in S Korea and Japan last year.  She has a really good grasp of what appeals to me, when it comes to fabrics and stuff.  Here is a photo she took at the Luxembourg Fabric Festival a few weeks ago. 

This is the bunting photo.  A little peek into fabric show in another country.
I sure wish I could have been there myself!

Wedding Bunting - I made some wedding bunting just before Christmas for, Marie, the bride planning a shabby-chic wedding for June 2013.  She told me her colors and I borrowed her sweet suitcase for a few days.  I had just the most excellent retro fabric that my cousin had found for me at a yard sale last summer.  I washed it and pressed it and cut the letters from it. It was an old fashioned two-toned green. I had left over pale pink on ivory fabric from the Shiloh Quilt I made about three years ago. It worked perfectly.  I used the same technique I used on my Halloween and Christmas buntings; fusable fleece.  I did make a binding strip with a floral print that had just a smidgen of plum in it to go with the lining of the suit case.  Marie loved it! 


All the wedding cards will go into this lovely old suitcase at the wedding.

                         

Decorate your cubicle wall at work. After all, you spend 40 hours a week there. Let's be cheery!  Here is the jack-o-lantern bunting I made for my cubicle wall at work. It took me less than an hour to make the bunting!  Notice the sweet photo (really big photo) of Merlinda the Ninja Cat. Yes, I do have photos of her doing other things rather than sleeping on one quilt or another.  Go to my glutenfreequilter blog to view quilt Merlinda photos. Just click on the link above, the right.

I made the bunting with the fusable fleece.  I viewed the video produced by the Missouri Star Quilt Company. The link to the video is below in the instructions called "Easier".  It really is is easier!    To make it even easier, here is that link again.  Missouri Star Bunting Tutorial   [they call it a garland and used a charm pack]

I picked up three halloween fabrics, 5 yards pom-pom trim, and 1/2 yard fusible fleece at Hancock Fabrics. I already had a wedge shaped ruler. I cut a 5" strip of each fabric, then adhered it to the fusable fleece, as instructed in the video. Then I cut the three strips apart and used my wedge to cut all the triangles.  Using my triangle wedge kept me from wasting any of my fabric.  I made my triangles bigger than those on the tutorial and sewed seven of the triangles to the pom-pom trim. The one below looks a bit brighter on my green cutting mat.


place decorative trim in place, then sew it down

 I made one to decorate my cubicle at work and the other for a friend. I used a contrasting color of thread on one, with one of my fancy stitches on my new machine. It is 54 inches in length, so is just right for a window or a cubicle wall.  The best thing about making this festive bunting is it took so little time. Instant gratification is a good thing!

At the Hen House Retreat last weekend I saw a cute idea for making easy bunting using those pom pom trims.  I like it!

I have been seeing more bunting around, lately, than ever before.  I find it so very festive. I am into festive, especially if I can make it myself.  Looking into bunting, I have discovered that I taught my Brownie Girl Scouts how to make bunting back in the 1980’s. I did not know it was called bunting.  I think bunting is more a British decoration, and folks in the U.S. just call them garlands or decorations.

I found out that bunting is a lightweight cloth used for flags and festive decorations. It usually has a shiny surface, which of course will catch the sun, as they were typically outdoor decorations.  The light weight makes them move in the wind better.

Today, "bunting" is a term for any festive decorations made of fabric, or of plastic, paper, or even cardboard as in imitation of fabric.  To see a couple more photos and more information on bunting, check out Wikipedia:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunting

Following are three easy ways to make your own bunting:

Easy:

I found this sweet fabric bunting in a book, Sew Charming, by Cath Derksema and Kirsten Junor.  I bought some fab summer fabrics and discovered I could get three flags out of a fat quarter. Then there is a little strip of fabric left, that can be used in the binding strip that holds them all together.  You connect all the strips, just like you would to make binding for a quilt.  So, my bunting has a colorful strip holding all the flag parts.   I made my own pattern using a scrap of peltex, but card stock, or cardboard will work fine. I just traced it onto the fabric with a sharpie marker. Once you cut out the shapes and sew them right sides together, you don’t see the sharpie marker.  Then you turn them right side out and press them.  The raw (open) edge just gets tucked into your binding strip, pin it in place, then sew along the binding strip until you have them all on there.  After I sewed mine up, I added a button and two button holes on each end, of the binding strip, so I have an adjustable way of fastening it to whatever hook or nail I decide to.

I hang mine on my patio, but Cath and Kirsten of Sew Charming, made theirs for a big beach umbrella, which looks so totally festive and breezy you want to make one!