You will need: your recycled denim bunting, freezer or sticker paper, pre-washed wool or acrylic felt (wool felt will shrink a lot!), matching thread, a glue stick, a free-motion presser foot if you’ll be doing machine-applique
- Make a template for your applique. Letters or simple, stencil-like images are all good choices–you’ll need a simple and large design because, although you’ll only be putting one letter or image on each individual pennant flag, they’ll still need to be discernable from a distance. Names and holidays are fun to do–you can use a variety of free fonts available online (these are usually only for your personal use, not for creating an object for selling), or a font editor program to create your own awesomeness. Measure your pennant flag and expand your font size accordingly.
- Print your design as a mirror image onto either sticker paper or freezer paper.
- Iron your freezer paper to your felt or stick on your sticker paper.
- Using the paper as your template, cut around the images, then peel away the paper from the felt to reveal your appliques.
- Use a glue stick to temporarily adhere each felt image to its pennant flag (be careful not to warp the felt by pushing at it with your glue stick).
- If you’re hand-sewing, use your favorite stitch (may I suggest the blanket stitch?) to sew each felt applique to its pennant flag. If you’re machine-sewing, lower the feed dogs and use a free-motion presser foot (sometimes known as a darning foot or a quilting foot) to carefully top-stitch around each applique–being felt, they won’t ravel.
- Your bunting is super-awesome now. Admire it. For extra jazz, feel free to stitch on beads, sequins, commercial appliques, rick-rack, etc. A bunting just can’t be too tacky festive!
