How To Make A Fabric Pendant Bunting

One of my favorite parts of my daughter's recent Dora Birthday Party was the fabric pendant bunting.  It was so incredibly easy to make, and made a big impact on the party scene.

I started with three yards of fabric of each color:  lavender, pink and orange.  This amount of fabric made a HUGE amount of bunting- I used it all, but it was more than I thought it would make!

I purchased these fabrics at Wal-Mart, which is the cheapest place to buy solid color fabric that is for decoration only.  Their solid broadcloth fabric seems a bit stiff and thin to me, so I wouldn't use it for clothing or baby items, but it's perfect for this type of project.  The orange color was only $2.50/yard, and the others were about $3.50/yard.

From paper I made a triangle template.  This is an isosceles triangle - for you non-math people, that's a triangle with two equal sides.  It also has two congruent angles, but that's irrelevant and just my math-nerd brain thinking!

My triangle measured 8.5 inches on the short side and 11.5 inches on the two long sides.  I cut two and taped the two short sides together to make a diamond shape.  I traced this diamond shape all over the fabric and cut them out.  This was definitely the most time consuming part of the entire project.  But, it's not a labor intensive step, so I didn't mind.

Once all the diamonds were cut out, I folded them into the triangle shape and ironed the short side.  Then, I threaded my machine with coordinating thread and started sewing down the two long sides.

To save time, I didn't stop between each triangle, but I just made a few "blank" stitches and kept sewing.  Once again, I only sewed the two long sides, and yes, I did leave the edges raw.  I knew this bunting would be hanging up and not get much wear and tear, so I didn't worry about turning it.  At the party, it was hanging in the distance and the raw edges were not noticeable at all.  

Once I finished all of one color, I had a long chain of the same color.

I clipped these triangles apart, and once I had all of the colors complete, I stacked them in the order I wanted them to appear in the bunting.

I used white extra wide double fold bias tape to finish this project.  Because it's double fold and finished on the edges, it was easy to insert the short edge of the triangles into the tape and stitch it down.  I threaded my machine with white thread, and just inserted the triangles from my stack as I sewed along.

I can't remember how many packages of bias tape I used, but I think it was about 8.  These are usually $1.99 at Jo-Anns, and usually not on sale, so a 40% off coupon can be used.  Or, they are $1.39 at Wal-Mart.  I left about 12 inches on each end to aid in tying up the bunting on the party day.

 See how the short sides fit into the bias tape?  This makes it completely reversible, too, since both sides are finished.

And that's it!  Hang it up and enjoy!

We added clusters of balloons but it would still be beautiful even alone.

I'll be listing most of this bunting in my Etsy shop soon, but I do have plans for a small portion of it in my daughter's room.  And bunting is not out of my future yet, as I will be sewing some similar bunting for a very special wedding this summer!  Stay tuned for pics of that!