When my firstborn was about to be born, my grandmother and I sat down at my kitchen table and made two buntings to decorate her little room. I had gone to the fabric store and had too much fun picking all the fun prints I wanted because I only needed little strips of each. Soon after Lottie came and little did I know she wouldn't sleep in that room once, she would stayed cuddled up with me until we moved back to Australia (and long after!). Those buntings however have been to everyone of my kids birthday parties, their cousins too. Every time I pull them out of the party box and hang them to celebrate one of the sweet babes in our family, there's a million memories that live on within them.
For this lesson I sat down with Lottie and we made our very own bunting, together. This was probably the best learning lesson we have had so far. There was plenty of practice sewing the bunting triangles - they were so great for learning to sew a straight stitch by following the guides and how to backstitch at the beginning and end of the seam - but there was also the unpicking of mistakes, turning of corners and the tools you can use to do so. We made a day of it, cutting, pressing, piecing it together assembly line style. It was also a day of laughing, slowing down to be together and create something fun. Not to worry though, If you don't have that long to dedicate, cut out your pieces in advance and spread it out over a couple days and it will just prolong the good times!
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For this project you are going to need:
- Strips of 6" (15 cm) fabric in as many colours or prints as you would like to use.
- Coordinating thread
- Double fold bias tape - 1/2" (12.7mm) in 3 yards (3 meters) long
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The skills learned in making the bunting will be:
- Turning corners
- Measuring fabric
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1. Mark one side of your 6" strip of fabric every 6" along one of the long edges as shown.
2. Mark the other side in the center of the first 6 inches and then every 6 inches after. These marks will be directly in the center of the other sides marks.
3. Draw the lines together with a zig zag as shown in the diagram.
4. Cut the zig zags out.
5. Sew the two long sides together using the edge of the foot as a guide.
6. Clip the bottom sewn corner, being careful not to clip the seam you have just sewn. This will make the corner neater when you turn the bunting triangle right side out.
7. Turn right sides out, use a chop stick or knitting needle to gently poke out the point at the bottom.
8. Clip the excess off the top.
9. Press and repeat!
10. After you have have sewn all of your triangles (we used 3 colours and sewed 6 triangles of each = 18 triangles total. You can always make yours longer or shorter) piece them together by sandwiching them in between the bias tape and using the wonder clips to keep in place, leaving a few inches of bias on either side. Edge stitch closed.
11. After you are done fold the excess bias you have left on one side in half on top of each other and stitch in place. Repeat with the other side. This will make it easy to hang your bunting!
This is Lesson 4 of our 12 part series aimed at teaching your little one how to use the sewing machine and then creating a different and fun project each month. If you are jumping in now I recommend popping back to the first lesson that covers introducing your child to the machine and starting from there. This course is designed with you guiding your child through each lesson and is not meant or recommended for your child to go at it alone. Children should be supervised at all times while using the sewing machine and iron.
We hope you're having fun in little sewing school! Join in next month for the next lesson. We'd love to see your own sewing school in action using our lessons so please tag us in #pplittlesewingschool to share the fun! If you have any questions or comments leave them in our new interactive comment bar below or join us for inspiration and fun in our Puzzle Pattern Facebook Group!
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