Bunting adds a pop of colour and a little dramatic flair to any space so what better way to decorate your little girl’s next birthday party than with homemade butterfly bunting?
This DIY project is ideal to do with your kids and the bunting is the perfect decoration for your child’s next birthday party. Better still, because it’s made of fabric, it can also be used in your little one’s bedroom year-round or saved for use at future parties.
The amount of fabrics and materials quoted throughout this tutorial will cost roughly $25–$30 and should create 5–6 bunting strips — so the end result costs around $5 per strip for beautiful homemade bunting that you can use again and again!
DIY butterfly bunting
What you need:
- Craft scissors
- Craft glue
- Ruler and pen
- 8–10 strips of fabric, 25–30 centimetres width
- A4 sheet of cardboard
- 6 x 3 metre spools of hot pink ribbon, 2–3 centimetres thick
A note on fabric
We chose butterfly-themed fabrics, but you’re really only limited by your imagination, so pick your own theme and go for it! Be sure to choose a range of fabric textures and patterns, to create contrast and depth, and don’t be afraid to scour the off-cuts bin at the fabric store — remember, you only need 25 centimetres of each style.
Instructions:
- Set up your fabrics and materials on a large space, like the dining room table.
- Take your A4 sheet of cardboard and lightly fold it in half, open it and lie flat. Use your ruler and pen to draw a line from the top left corner to the bottom middle of the page, where the fold is. Cut along this line. Repeat on the right hand side and you should be left with one large triangle.
- This triangle will be your flag template. Start with one strip of fabric and on the “under-side” of the fabric, use your pen to draw the outline of the triangle. Repeat along the entire width of the fabric.
- Cut along each line to create a pile of triangle flags. One strip of fabric should create around 10–15 flags, depending on the breadth of the fabric.
- Repeat this process for every strip — your hands may get a little weary after a few strips, so consider splitting this process over a few different days!
- Arrange your fabric flags into distinct piles in a row and unravel one entire spool of ribbon.
- Take one flag from each pile and line them up along the floor or your table and place the ribbon in position above the flags. Continue to add flags until the full length of ribbon is complete (usually 12–14 flags), being careful to leave 20 centimetres each end so you can tie the bunting up.
- Run a line of craft glue along the top of each fabric flag — make sure you glue the front-facing side of the fabric — and attach to the ribbon. The under-side of the fabric should be facing you.
- Leave to dry and repeat this process on each strip of ribbon. If the ribbon is very thick (3 centimetres plus), you can fold it in half and glue it to itself to create a finished “edge” to the bunting — but it’s fine to leave it with a raw ribbon edge, too. Both options look pretty and polished, so this is completely your choice.
- Hang above a window frame, along a marquee edge or across a wall, and admire your handiwork!
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