Baby Boy Personalised Bunting Tutorial

DIY Appliqued Onesie and Fabric Garland

This week I had the pleasure of stitching up a gift for a newborn baby boy.  He comes from a family who are very talented with a sewing machine and likely to be appreciative of a thrifted and stitched offering!  It cost mere pennies to make, having been created from old curtains, shirts and dresses.  The baby vest is sized 0-3 months and came from a bag of 'hand-me-downs' and will make a perfect little summer sleepsuit......should we actually get any hot weather this year!

I picked out upcycled fabrics in the classic combination of beige, light blue and navy and used a Varsity Font for a less 'babyish' look, thus hopefully prolonging its display life!

Tutorial

The first step is to make a template for your fabric letters and bunting flags. Simply use Microsoft Publisher/Word, or similar software, to create a 14 cm equilateral triangle and then resize your chosen font until the letters fit nicely in the middle of the triangle.  Print onto thin card and cut out.

Now take your card letters and turn them over before tracing around them onto the smooth side of a sheet of Bondaweb.  Iron onto the wrong side of the navy polka-dot fabric and cut out.....They will now be facing the right way round!    Cut the required number of pennant flags from the light blue and beige fabrics, not forgetting to cut out the same number of linings.

Peel the backing paper from your letters and place centrally onto the flag fronts and, once you're happy with the positioning, fix with a hot iron.

Using white thread sew around each of the letters at least twice to create a 'sketchy' feel.  Don't worry if you have a couple of wobbles as this all adds to the appeal of raw edge appliqué!

Place each appliquéd flag onto a triangle cut from your lining fabric, right sides together, and stitch the side seams leaving the top open.   Trim seam allowances and clip the bottom point to reduce bulk. 

Turn the flags right side out and use a chopstick or blunt stick to gently push out the points.  Press and then trim off the little 'ears' at the top of the flags creating a nice straight edge.

We now need to enclose the raw edges, the easiest method is to use pre-made purchased binding or even just fold some ribbon or canvas tape in half - I actually made this binding from one of my hubby's worn out work shirts, it matched the navy of the polka-dot fabric perfectly!

To apply bias-binding, open it out and stitch to the right side of your flags matching up the raw edges at the top.  Carry on sewing whilst placing your flags with an even spacing and leaving at least 10cm of tape at each end for hanging.  Then fold the binding over to the wrong side and catch into position with little hand-stitches, using the machined line as your guide.

This method ensures a neat finish on the right side of the flags with no visible stitching.

All done!

A handmade string of personalised bunting for your special baby!

Bunting is an easy sewing project which can be personalised for any taste.  I chose not to put any 'boy' pictures on this string as boats and tractors are grown out of so quickly, but for girls you can let your imagination, and sewing needle, have free reign!  I created these owl and butterfly versions for the daughters of a dear friend last year;

Should you not trust your appliqué or free-hand machine embroidery skills, you can even upcycle  vintage linens into stunning bunting garlands...

However, hopefully Arthur will be happy with an appliquéd baby-grow as compensation for the lack of pictures on his garland!

For Arthur - A* Baby!

I'll be posting a tutorial for Arthur's appliquéd baby vest as well as this cupcake version shortly;

So keep your eyes open!