Rasa Pelham Arty Love, Crafts!, Crochet, Knitting, Let's Celebrate!, Paper Crafts, Sewing

Rainbow bunting project

Since sharing about this exciting project we thought we would give you more information.

For those who have not heard, here is where you can read how our idea came about. Essentially our idea is simple. We want to bring joy to the community and shift focus from being anxious, scared, or bored to a more positive perspective. We hope you can join us and make some triangle flags to be joined together so we can put them in our windows. We hope this will bring smiles to people who passes our cafe while we are on quarantine. The more bunting the larger the smiles and we have plenty of space in our windows!

When we reopen again we are going to use the same bunting to decorate our ceiling. We are planning on a fun fair style celebration with stalls selling handmade goods, fun activities for kids, and much more. So while we wait, we need to prepare for this exciting event. Which is why we would love to see your handmade touch on our opening deco.

The address to either post or drop off your handmade flags is:

  • 5 The Crescent
  • MK42 0UJ
  • SHORSTSTOWN

The flags can be made up from any material, as long as it can be stitched together onto our binding. For more ideas keep on reading! The possibilities are limitless! Although there are two rules to keep it neat:

  1. The flags need to be rainbow coloured. We felt it is essential this project is as cheerful as it can be. Plus, rainbow means hope, and thats what we need right now!
  2. All flags need to be roughly the same size. Each side should be approximately 15cm/6inch long.

PAPER FLAGS

Paper is the easiest way to make flags! It also makes a good template for making fabric flags. Paper can be painted, printed, cut, glued, and even stitched! The options are limitless and doesn’t require much skill therefore kids can be involved too!

FABRIC FLAGS

Fabric flags require slightly more skill and work compared to paper ones. However this is a more traditional material to use for the bunting. The key is to find a good method to finish off the flag edges. Our method is as follows:

  1. Cut out two flags from your chosen fabric, leaving a 1cm seam allowance on two edges
  2. Pin those two flags together leaving “wrong side” out
  3. Stitch the two edges of the flag where you left the seam allowance
  4. Invert the finished flag and iron to press it down

Of course some fabrics do not require such edge finishing (felt for example) and if you use serrated scissors to cut the triangles out then you won’t need to do any stitching.

Finished flags can me embroidered (for embroidery stitch inspiration go here), appliquéd, dyed, and/or printed. Edges can be further decorated with various trims.

KNITTED FLAGS

Knitted flags are fun and very good for meditation ;-). But seriously, knitting is so much fun! If you don’t know how, I think this is good time to start and this project is quite simple to begin with!

There are many knit stitch patterns out there to create different textures, but we will go with the most basic one, called Garter stitch pattern. All you need to know is a knit stitch with this one!

  • Cast on 30 stitches
  • row 1: slip 1 stitch, knit 29 stitches
  • row 2: slip 1 stitch, knit 27 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 3: slip 1 stitch, knit 26 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 4: slip 1 stitch, knit 25 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 5: slip 1 stitch, knit 24 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 6: slip 1 stitch, knit 23 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 7: slip 1 stitch, knit 22 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 8: slip 1 stitch, knit 21 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 9: slip 1 stitch, knit 20 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 10: slip 1 stitch, knit 19 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 11: slip 1 stitch, knit 18 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 12: slip 1 stitch, knit 17 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 13: slip 1 stitch, knit 16 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 14: slip 1 stitch, knit 15 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 15: slip 1 stitch, knit 14 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 16: slip 1 stitch, knit 13 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 17: slip 1 stitch, knit 12 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 18: slip 1 stitch, knit 11 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 19: slip 1 stitch, knit 10 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 20: slip 1 stitch, knit 9 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 21: slip 1 stitch, knit 8 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 22: slip 1 stitch, knit 7 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 23: slip 1 stitch, knit 6 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 24: slip 1 stitch, knit 5 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 25: slip 1 stitch, knit 4 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 26: slip 1 stitch, knit 3 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 27: slip 1 stitch, knit 2 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 28: slip 1 stitch, knit 1 stitches, knit 2 together
  • row 29: slip 1 stitch, knit 2 together
  • row 30: knit 2 together

When knitting you can also play with different colours if you want to create all sorts of patterns. Finished knitted bunting can be embroidered or decorated in other ways (like here with a mini bell)

CROCHET FLAGS

Crocheted flags can be equally fun. It all depends what you prefer. Some people swear by only knitting, some are totally in love with crochet. I love both! I think crochet is good for lace work or other intricate patterns. For this pattern I will keep it simple. Only double crochet stitch is used here!

  • row 1: work 22 chain stitches
  • row 2: dc (double crochet) 22 (stitches)
  • row 3: dc 20, skipping 1st and 22nd stitch (row 2)
  • row 4: dc 18, skipping 1st and 20th stitch (row 3)
  • row 5: dc 16, skipping 1st and 18th stitch (row 4)
  • row 6: dc 14, skipping 1st and 16th stitch (row 5)
  • row 7: dc 12, skipping 1st and 14th stitch (row 6)
  • row 8: dc 10, skipping 1st and 12th stitch (row 7)
  • row 9: dc 8, skipping 1st and 10th stitch (row 8)
  • row 10: dc 6, skipping 1st and 8th stitch (row 9)
  • row 11: dc 4, skipping 1st and 6th stitch (row 10)
  • row 12: dc 2, skipping 1st and 4th stitch (row 11)

Again, I just wanted mention again, there are so many lacy crochet pattern patterns out there! This triangle stitch pattern is my fave! I even think that it might be unique to me as I never came across anybody doing it! My source was an old book of trims, I just adapted it into a pattern.

All flags you make will be joined into one big bunting using our black binding material. I thought it will blend in well with black ceilings :-).

We really really look forward to your creations (and I am really getting excited about this!). And of course I am very very thankful to everyone who may participate or even consider participating!

Rasa xoxo