Vintage Valentine Bunting

When I showed you the new chicken wire display area I created in in my dining room, I told you that I had a few ideas for it to bring some color into that space.  Today I'm showing y'all my first idea -- a colorful bunting kicked up a notch with vintage Valentines.  When I dismantled the $4 Vintage Valentine Wreath I created last year, I saved all the old Valentines I had printed out.  My kids got such a kick out of all the corny sayings and silly pictures that I knew I wanted to use them again this year.  It adds such a bright, fun feeling to an otherwise kind of boring space!  {This previous post has links to printable Vintage Valentines I found all over the web that you can use for this project.}

To begin, I sewed a fabric bunting. For a bunting this size {about 7 feet long} I bought 1/4 yard each of 6 different fabrics.  At Hobby Lobby that worked out to about $1.25 per piece of fabric, so I only paid about $7.50.  If you have a stash of fabric you could probably make this for free.  I picked up a pack of  mini clothespins from the scrapbook section while I was there as well.

I cut a pattern for my pennants by folding a sheet of paper in half and cutting a triangle about 9 inches long {along the fold} by 7.5 inches across the top.  Cut 4 triangles out of each piece of fabric.  This will make 2 pennants of each design. If you want a longer bunting, just cut out more triangles -- it looks like you could probably get two more pennants {four triangles} out of my leftover fabric.

 For each pennant place two triangles with the fabric right-sides-together and stitch down each angled edge, leaving the top open.  After sewing, snip off the extra fabric at the point of the triangle and turn right-side-out.  Press each pennant to create nice, crisp edges.

Fold a 3-1/2 yard  piece of  3/4 or 1-inch wide twill tape {or grosgrain ribbon} in half along the length of the ribbon and press. You will use this as the "string" connecting all your individual pennants together to create a bunting.  Measure 18 inches in from one end of the twill tape.  This will be where you begin attaching pennants.  Put the top {unfinished} edge of the first pennant into the fold of the twill tape and pin in place.  Overlap the pennants by about 1/2 inch on each corner as you pin on each additional pennant.

Once all the pennants are in place, sew down the length of the twill tape with a zig zag stitch to hold everything in place.

Trim the twill tape on each end to the same length and you're finished!  I tied the leftover ribbon on each end into a bow and then used the mini clothespins to attach it to my chicken wire board.  I also used mini clothespins to hang a few of the printable vintage Valentines along the length of the bunting.

I LOVE THE WAY IT LOOKS IN MY DINING ROOM!!!! It makes my little heart skip a beat every time I look at it.  If I have to have those stupid cabinets there, I'm so glad I could finally make them into something pretty.

I love the bunting because it feels fun and festive, almost like going to a country fair, and I can use it for just about any season by changing out the extra little elements.  Yeah, I'm dorky enough to admit that I want to go to a country fair every day of my life.  I'll be baking a country-fair-esque Fresh Strawberry Pie in that kitchen soon -- watch for the recipe next week!

Have a great day, friends!

-amy g.