a bunting

This Christmas, despite my great intentions, I only made one homemade gift: a flag bunting for my sister in law, Liz. It is meant to be birthday party decor, or Independence day decor, or anything-she-wants-decor. I also made one for Hank and George's birthday, as seen here.

 

 To make this flag bunting, follow these easy steps.
1. For the triangle template, start by cutting a rectangle out of a piece of lightweight cardboard: 10" x 7".  I used gum box packaging. A cereal box would work well too.

2. Fold it in half, lengthwise.
3. Using a rotary cutter and ruler, cut a triangle using the middle fold as your center point, on each side. This gives you a perfect triangular shape.

4. Fold your fabric in half, at least 10 inches over.
5. Put some painter's tape on the back of the triangle template. You'll still need to hold it while cutting, but the tape helps keep it in place under the ruler.
6. Place the base of the template on the fold of the fabric.
7. Use your rotary cutter and ruler (aligned with the cardboard template) to cut out the fabric. Don't cut the folded side. When unfolded, it will look like this:

8. Repeat steps 6 and 7 with several more fabrics. I used about 6 prints, making 11 flags altogether.
9. I used some twine I already had. Without cutting any from the roll, I just unwound a little as I went. Make sure to give yourself at least 3 feet of twine on each side of the the whole bunting, to allow for easy hanging.
10. Unfold your triangle, wrong side up. Place twine at the fold of the flag and fold the triangle over onto itself. Secure the twine in place by sewing right next to it, and then all the way around the flag. Use a 1/4 inch seam from the edge. Try not to sew over the twine, so you can slide the placement of each flag, as needed, when you are done. The edges will be raw, and that's intentional.

11. Continue sewing each flag onto the twine. Placement isn't a big worry as you sew, because, like I said, you can adjust that later.

12. I tied a little knot at both ends of the bunting, to keep the flags somewhat in place, but that's probably not necessary.

Pretty easy. I think this would also be so cute in all one color. Lots of possibilities here!

LAND THAT I LOVE

The flags are out. The kids are at a movie with Mark, the babies are napping, and I am feeling patriotic. I downloaded this Pledge of Allegiance print for free right here. I also can't stop listening to The Washington Post.

I planted my mini flag in one of my jade plants.

[I replaced the original wispy grass after it's short life.  Too much water?  Not enough natural sun?  I don't know.  But I did notice the same wispy grass at Anthropologie, that I was originally copying, was also dead the last time I was in the store.  They still had it on a display table and somehow it works at Anthropologie.  Doesn't work in my house.  I love my new jade plants.]

The little breeze we have today is just perfect for flying a flag. Thanks cubscouts!

And though my sweet potato vines are not particularly patriotic, they are growing like crazy, which makes me happy.  Everyday the vines are exploding with growth.

God Bless America!

HAPPY FLAG DAY

As a fundraiser/service, the local cub scouts put these flags up around our neighborhood, six times a year.  Our street alone boasts 11 flags.  And since Mark is the cub master, he and Jonah, and usually Owen, help put them up, starting at 6 am.  The boys love it, and I love driving our neighborhood on these holidays when patriotism abounds.