Every fabric stash has one: the half-yard that matched nothing, the curtain panel that shrank, the quilting leftovers too good to throw out. Bunting is the most forgiving project for them. No pattern to match, no machine to thread, and a slightly crooked flag reads as handmade rather than wrong. The method below uses pinking shears, fabric glue, or both, and finishes with a tape that will still look tidy after a whole summer in the garden.
Gather everything before you cut. The project moves faster when you aren't hunting for clips halfway through.
Pinking shears work because the zigzag cuts the straight threads of a woven fabric into short lengths, so nothing is left long enough to unravel. On quilting cotton and linen, a pinked edge stays neat through handling and storage. On knits it curls, and on loose weaves it still sheds, so test a scrap first.
Glue does two jobs: it holds the flag to the tape, and it seals the raw side edge if you run a thin bead along it. Fabric glue dries flexible and survives gentle hand washing, but it needs a full day to cure. Hot glue sets in seconds and is tempting when you're in a hurry, though it dries stiff and hard, can pop off in a hot car or a cold shed, and won't survive a wash.
If you glue, don't rely on adhesive alone at the top edge. Sandwich the flag inside folded tape — that's mechanical hold plus glue, and it's what keeps bunting together season after season.
Uniform triangles are the safe choice, but alternating one wide flag with two narrow ones adds movement for no extra effort. Keep the height the same so the bottom edge lines up, or stagger heights deliberately for a looser look.
Work on a table, left to right, with the tape running in a straight line.
Leave the whole length flat to cure for the time your glue specifies, usually 24 hours, with the clips still on. This is the step that decides whether the bunting lasts, so don't rush it.
The tape matters more than the fabric. It carries the weight, takes the wind and holds the knots.
A long string of cotton flags catches wind like a sail. Hang with a slight drape rather than pulling it taut, and anchor both tails to hooks, nails or fence posts with knots you can undo. Outdoors, try to shelter the ends even if the middle is free to move — anchor points fail first.
To clean, spot-treat with a damp cloth and mild soap, then air dry flat. Skip the washing machine unless you used fabric glue and feel lucky. Afterwards, roll the bunting around a cardboard strip or a paper towel tube rather than folding it, and store it flat in a box. Pinked edges crush and curl, and a rolled bunting is ready for the next occasion in seconds.
Make a short run first: ten flags, one tape, one overnight cure. You'll learn how your glue behaves, how the gaps look in real light, and whether your fabric frays more than you expected. Ten flags dresses a shelf, a doorway or a cake table. Then make the long one using the fabric you liked best, and keep the scraps. There's always another party.
Photo: Ravi Kant / Pexels
