Pin Up // DIY Bunting

When it comes to celebrating, whether it's a birthday party, a summer BBQ or simply the arrival of a bit of sunshine, why not add a touch of cheer to the festivities with some hand made bunting?


This super simple DIY allows you to flex your creative muscles with minimal skills and materials required, budget friendly and freshens up a room, window or shelf! I created my very own decorations to spruce up our house for my birthday, but loved the look so much that I have left a couple up!


If you want to have a go yourself, then you will need the following:

- Fabric of choice. There really are no rules with bunting, so treat yourself to whatever takes your fancy or upcycle an old bed sheet or t-shirt even! I used super cheap printed cotton which was incredibly easy to work with.

- Cotton thread in either the same colours as your fabric or try a contrasting shade to amp up the volume!

- Ribbon, tape or bias binding. Something upon which to stitch your mini flags to, again go crazy with the material or colours. I used a basic 2.5cm width ribbon from the local hobby shop.

- Sewing machine or needle and thimble. This is easiest and fasted done on a machine but can be hand stitched easily, if you have the time and patience!

- Basic sewing kit; scissors (fabric and paper), bobbin, tailors chalk, pins, iron, ruler, pencil/ pen and card for a template.

First things first, ensure your fabrics are ironed smooth. Boring part of the job, I know, but essential none the less. Next measure out a basic triangle shape on card, to the desired size for your decorations. Keep in mind the location of your bunting, whether you need nice big shapes to string across the room from corner to corner or perhaps dinky petite forms to hang upon your bookshelf.

Using your template, draw round and cut out your flags until you have an efficient amount to dress your desired room. I'm a pro guesser and generally wing it... Besides, using this tutorial you can quite easily add to your bunting until you have the correct length!

If using a machine, choose a nice wide zig zag stitch and along the two longer edges of your flagging, fold the edge over about 1cm, press lightly with the iron if necessary, and proceed to stitching a line of zig zag along each edge. This is partly functional, to secure the folded back edge, but also decorative, so feel free to choose a complimenting coloured thread for this. If you're kicking it old school and hand stitching the edge, follow the instructions and create a zig zag stitch, keeping the stitch nice and wide will do the trick and speed up the process.

Starting a good 5cm's in, begin attaching your flags inside your ribbon by folding the ribbon edge over and sandwiching your bunting flag inside. A handy trick is to ensure the bottom layer of ribbon is a fraction longer than the front edge that lies on top of the flags. This will help when stitching in place. Again, choose your preferred thread and get your machine ready with a simple straight stitch and begin to stitch your flags in place, leaving a couple of cm's between each flag. Feel free to pin each flag into place, if your fabric allows, this may help to keep things nice and secure as you go along, just remember to remove them as you go!


Snip off any threads, tidy away your sewing supplies, borrow a tall friend and get decorating!

Play around with patterns and colours, try mini bunting or vary the size of your flags or ribbon. You can have a lot of fun with this project and develop your idea as you go. Perhaps you could applique someones name, letter by letter, upon each flag, or spell out C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S... Get creative and bring the cheer for any occasion!