Erin FoxAny occasion is made special with the addition of decorative bunting. Typically, bunting is shaped like triangles but different holidays inspire different shaped bunting such as Christmas trees, shamrocks, Easter eggs or, with St Valentine’s Day just around the corner, hearts. Heart bunting is not just for St Valentine’s Day. Make this garland for the occasion, but with different colours you can keep it hanging up all year round.
First make your heart template. Draw the heart on the back of a piece of card (you could use an old cereal box) and cut out. Take a sheet of fabric, fold in half and pin to the template. Cut around the template, remove the pins so you have two hearts. Repeat these steps on several more pieces of fabric until you have enough hearts for the bunting.
Sew the hearts together one at a time. Cut a length of ribbon or twine long enough to hold all of the hearts. Starting with the first heart, place the ribbon or twine in between the two pieces of fabric near the top widest end of the heart. Pin together the fabric and then tack the hearts about 1cm away from the edge. Remove the pins. Sew the two pieces together using a running stitch, removing the tacking thread as you work around the heart.
Repeat with the remaining hearts. Tie a loop at each end of the ribbon and hang the bunting up whenever you are finished! For frilled edging cut out the hearts using pinking shears. You can always make one heart and stuff it with kapok fibre to hang as a simple decoration. Or fill it with dried lavender for a fragrant room freshener.
Before sewing together, make a loop with a piece of ribbon and insert this inside the top of the heart so you can hang it up later. Choose whichever kind of patterned fabric you wish to use. Polka dots add some fun to the bunting. Checks and ginghams in different shades can determine the season its suited for.
Images of roses and birds are also associated with St Valentine. If hearts aren’t your thing, you can always make the bunting in the shape of birds with a few heart motifs to stay with the Valentine theme. Make individual birds as opposed to bunting and hang these around the house.