FREE PROJECT: Easy Summer Bunting

Have you got a summer BBQ or Garden party planned with friends and family?  If so why not decorate your garden with some bunting, it is so simple to make and here is a free project you can try.

This project is taken from a great book called Simple Sewn Gifts by Helen Philipps.  The bunting is made from triangles of soft shades of linen, delicately stitched with pastel-coloured boats and beach huts. Little buttons decorate the string between each triangle. You could also sew little mother-of-pearl buttons below the cross stitch motifs near the point of each triangle, or search out seaside-themed buttons.



You will need
(for a six-flag length)

• 28-count linen six 19cm (7½in) squares – two in pale blue, two in pale pink and two in white or cream
• DMC stranded cottons as in chart key
• Tapestry needle size 24–26
• Washable or erasable pen
• Fusible web in a narrow width (such as Wonderweb)
• Bias binding in turquoise 1.3cm (½in) wide x 2.75m (3yd) approx
• Pinking shears
• Anti-fray liquid (such as Fray Check)
• Five small pastel buttons

Finished size: 18 x 104cm (7 x 41in) for six flags (excluding ties)

Preparing the flags
1. Using a template draw the triangles on to the coloured linen squares using an erasable pen. You can make the bunting longer by cutting more linen squares to create more flags.

2. Sew along the pen line (a) and then cut out 2cm (¾in) away from the stitching all round using pinking shears. To reduce fraying along the pinked edge apply a liquid such as Fray Check. Turn over the top of the triangle (the widest part) and use a strip of fusible web to seal the seam.

Sewing the motifs

Use the cross stitch charts below for the beach huts and boats and stitch the motifs in the centre of the linen triangles working over two threads of linen. Use two strands of stranded cotton for the cross stitches and one strand for the backstitches (b).

Making up the bunting

1. When you have finished the stitching on the triangles, pin the bias binding in place along the top of the triangles, allowing long tails of binding at either end for tying up the binding. Tack (baste) the binding in position and then stitch two rows of decorative running stitch all along the binding using two strands of DMC cotton in white (c).

2. Finally, add an extra decorative touch by using matching thread to sew on small buttons where the triangles meet at the top of the binding.

Cross Stitch Chart


This bunting is so simple and yet will bring a feel-good celebration look wherever it is used. If you like this project take a look at the book for more great projects



Marie