So far this year we have had many reasons to feel patriotic and celebrate our British heritage with events such as the Queen's 90th Birthday and Euro 2016. Many customers have been celebrating with parties and barbecues and the celebrations show no signs of slowing down with the Rio 2016 Olympics due to open later on this week. With our selection of Fabrics Online you have everything you need for creating your own hand-stitched decorations, perfect for Olympics parties and other celebrations. One of the quickest and most effective decorations you can make is hand-sewn bunting. Bunting is a very effective decoration and is simple to make making this the ideal choice for beginner sewers and is the perfect project for getting children involved in your preparation. In the run up to the Olympics our selection of Union Jack Fabrics Online have proven to be a particularly popular choice - these printed fabrics work particularly well alongside our plain cotton Fabrics Online which are also available to purchase in patriotic shades of red, white and blue. Follow our easy tutorial below to create your own patriotic bunting decorations: Materials Required:
  • 25mm/1″ wide cotton bias binding (as long as you need with an extra metre to spare)
  • 1 metre of fabric in each of your chosen colours or designs
  • Good quality pinking shears
  • Paper scissors
  • 1 piece of card
  • pencil
  • ruler
  • Dressmaking pins
  1. Using your pencil and ruler, sketch a triangle on your card and carefully cut around it with your paper scissors - you have now created your template! Be careful to ensure that all of your bunting pieces are identical in size and shape.
  2. Pin your template to your fabric with your dressmaking pins and cut around it with your pinking shears. Repeat until you have the desired number of flags for your bunting.
  3. Space your fabric flags evenly along the length of your bias binding, leaving approximately a 3 inch gap between each piece. Fold your bias binding over the shortest edge of your flag, and pin in place. Repeat this step until all of your fabric flags are in place, making sure to leave a length of bias binding approximately 50cm in length at each end of your bunting for hanging.
  4. Once all of your bias binding has been followed, sew along the entire length to secure your fabric flags in place.
Bunting is the perfect choice of decoration for barbecues and garden parties. You can use any choice of Fabric Online and be as adventurous as you like. As well as cotton and polycotton fabrics you can experiment with a range of other finishes including felt and hessian. Our selection of Fabrics Online are ideal for creating a variety of party decorations, our Union Jack print is the perfect fabric for creating table coverings and displays and with our wide selection of Fabrics Online you can take care of all aspects of your party decor. We also carry a selection of patriotic ribbons and accessories which work wonderfully well alongside our Fabrics Online. This gorgeous selection of ribbons by berisfords celebrate all of our home nations and are available to purchase in a variety of stunning designs.