Halloween Bunting...woooohooooo!

 I love making my own bunting designs and had lots of ideas for creating my own bunting, but when I saw this beauty of a panel, I had to buy it and make it up! You can buy the panel at Flo-Jo Boutique or Creative Quilting.

Never one for wasting anything, you should see the bag of scraps I have, I used double-sided bondaweb to stick some of the images and the run of tiny characters onto the white flags on the reverse of the bunting - cool eh?

I've also discovered Photo stitch - thanks for the tip fellow bloggers!

Happy halloween all...Alli x

Yarn Bombing at Arnos Vale Cemetery - an autumn treat

You find knitted treats in all sorts of places across Bristol and we found some witty bombing at Arnos Vale Cemetery today.

Birdy display....little tweeters

All weathers at the cemetery

Hoorah for knitted bunting!

In the cafe, suspended from the ceiling were stone sycamore seeds. I loved them for their sheer brassyness, the most aeronautic of seeds, made from such a heavy material - stone!

There are giant poplar trees, growing so tall out of the vale, and apparently the sound the trees make in the wind is called popling. 

Take the time to read the tombstones and you make some interesting local discoveries...

The Victorians loved their weeping angels as much as the current Dr Who.

Thank you!

When a friend gives you the gift of staying in their house for two weeks over the summer and the house is in Cornwall, you need to say more than 'Thank you', but this paper bunting, made from old and modern maps of Cornwall, was just one of the ways we showed our gratitude! 

We stuck the maps onto card, cut out the flags and stitched them onto some red binding.

The original idea comes from one of my fav blogs and can be found here : vlijtig.blogspot.co.uk

Happy September

Alli x

Bunting - for a dog owner!

Vic's sister has a dog called Mo - he's cute (I've seen the pictures) and Vic commissioned me to make this special bunting for her sis, Sas!

I made cute felt bones to add to the doggie theme. You can see them better on the following print!

Fab doggie fabric came from two of my favourite fabric shops - 

Fabric Rehab for Whiskers and Tails, Green

Whilst Fancy Moon supplied me with Park & Ride Tea, Alexander Henry.

I'm pleased with the result!

Happy Friday x

Bunting - sparkly celebration!

Good friends of ours are having a big party to celebrate being married for 20 years - so, on our last visit to their house we spoke about bunting (of course) and customising it to represent their celebration.


Here's the result - bunting with important dates sewn on in sequins to represent key moments. Born-Met-Dated-Married-Celebrating.

A good year....the year of the horse

Basic bunting - get the kids involved!

I'm mad about bunting. It comes in all shapes and sizes, fabrics and paper and spices up any occasion. Felt from Fabric Land Bristol (if you are not near one petition your council to get one)


Here's how I taught my daughter how to use the sewing machine and make her own bunting.


Step 1 - assemble materials

Assembly your materials - felt flags, bias binding (25mm)

Cut out flags - 15cm long X 11 Use felt - no need for hemming!


Measure bias binding - (25mm thick) - I buy it on a roll of 25m. It's cheaper that way and you're bound to make more.




















Step 2 - Using the sewing machine

Zigggg...zagggg

Once you have set the sewing machine up, have a go at doing a straight stitch and zig zag.


Remember - you can always take your foot off the pedal if things are going wonky!






























Step 3 - Start sewing

Gently does it!

Use a zig zag stitch and fold binding in half - place under foot about 2 cm in. Sew a few stitches forward and then reverse to stop stitching from coming undone. 


Keep stitch close to the left edge of binding.


Sew for about 50 cm before tucking first flag in between folded binding - stitch in place.


Decide on your spacing and place next flag in position.


Stitch until all flags snuggly in place!


To finish - make sure that you leave yourself another 50cm for the end tie. Make sure you use a few back stitches at the end to secure your stitch.







Step 4 - Hang your bunting..

Pride of place!

No sewing machine?
1) Hand stitch the flags in place with a running stitch (use a contrasting embroidery thread). It'll take longer, but will while away a few hours while you're eating a cream tea! 
2) Fabric glue - it's fab! Stick the binding in half and add the flags in along the way!