Hand Made Bunting

Well as the saying goes hand made takes longer than to buy new and this can certainly be said about this party bunting I made.  The history behind this is my friend's friend had a beautiful bunting and I would borrow it from her (via my friend) in February and November for both my kids birthdays.   I loved it so much I went to Spotlight and bought the exact same fabrics, made a template and thought I would get to making this.  As I was a mother raising 2 tiny kids on my own there wasn't a lot of "sewing time" so the fabric sat in the original packet and also a house move that year as well.  During the last few years I took this project out once and made a few triangles and then it went back in the bag.

Two years ago in November I wanted to borrow the bunting again however it was her sisters birthday so the bunting wasn't available.  I thought to myself I need to finish my own bunting in time for Sienna's birthday and then that came and went until last November and the same thing happened.  Sorry the bunting is being used so it's not available.  This was the final kick I needed to get this project done in time for Sienna's birthday in February.  Christmas came and went and then early February I thought now is the time.  I spent one Saturday afternoon sewing the triangles and then the next day I sewed them onto the binding and it was done.  I also found the original docket in the bag dated 28-01-2011 so as I mentioned .....hand made things take time (ha ha).  I was so thrilled with this and we used it for Sienna's birthday last weekend.  I made mine double the length of the original one so it would span across our outdoor area.  There was also some leftover triangles so I made that up for Sienna's room which is about 2 metres long.

With mine I had 7 different coloured fabrics, some with dots on them, some with stars and some with stripes.  I picked an order of the 7 fabrics and then just repeated this pattern along the bunting.  The triangles are 26cm along the sides and the top is 20cm.  The tape was also purchased from Spotlight and is called "Birch Heading Tape" 50mm white (Product No in 2011 was 029112).  At the time it was $2.99 per metre.

I made a cardboard template of the triangle/flag and this was the finished flag.  I cut strips of fabric using my rotary cutter and mat and then I would top and tail the triangles to get the most out of the fabric.  Sometimes I cut two strips and layed them with the fabric wrong sides out so they were ready to sew rather than having the turn them all over and match up again. 

After that I sewed the triangle/flags on the sides leaving the top open.  I then turned them inside out and using sissors snipped around the point to cut a little bit of the excess fabric off and then cut a little snip every cm into the fabric so it would turn inside out nicely and end up flat.  Once I turned it inside out I put the cardboard template inside and then ironed the triangle/flag to get a nice firm edge.  

Once they were done I then ironed the Birch Heading Tape in half to give it a nice crease and then left half to one metre at the end for the ties (eg so you can tie it around a pole) and then I placed the flag into the folded tape and pushed the top of the flag so that it was in the centre of the tape (ie it was touching the ironed fold) and then put pins in it to keep it in place.  I then continued with the next flag and the edge butting up against the edge of the previous one and pinned etc.  I then sewed 1/4 inch line along the white tape taking pins out as I got to them.  So in front of my sewing machine from left to right is the folded tape with the middle folded bit on the left then the top of the flag is next and then the pointy end of the flag is on your right.  (if that makes sense).  After all of that it only took me two afternoons to finish this project and I was thrilled with it.

All systems go pulling one apart and putting one together.

Lots of activities going on.

The old trampoline being dismantled and my beautiful bunting that spans across the back area.

New trampoline put together.

Sienna got a new trampoline for her birthday so we had all the family over for a BBQ and while the new trampoline was going up the old rusted out one was coming down.  I bought the original trampoline 6.5 years ago and back then had a "trampoline put together" family BBQ on Exhibition Wednesday.  Eventually the net tore away from the top hoop and Sienna (bless her) got some wool and sewed it up and attached it to the top.  After many months of her jumping that ended up breaking and then we got smart and used cable ties and put them all around the top to hold up the net and then continued on again.  Then late last year a couple of the springs broke away and the stand was rusting out so it was time to get a new one because this was no longer very safe for her, particularly since she is always doing back flips.  This one came from Kmart and I had it on lay-by until her birthday.  The old one was also from Kmart so we got many years out of it.  The old one was 12 ft and this one is 14 ft as she is twice the age now so I went for the bigger one.  She was so thrilled with it and invited her friend over straight away to have a jump on it.

Happy 12th Birthday.