What gift do you get your father for his birthday? Now that I have two daughters capable of holding a pencil that answer has become a lot easier: I put them to work! This is really a win-win situation. We have an activity to do together, the children are entertained, ánd we end up with a unique gift. In this case fabric bunting with hand decorated flags.
A couple of years ago my oldest daughter and I decorated some fabric flags that we now use for our birthday celebrations. This time I cut some rectangles from white muslin (5.5×7 inches I think) and let both of my children play with fabric markers. At first, they each made 4 flags. When I let them pick fabrics for the back of the flags though, they could not decide on just 8 fabrics. They insisted on making more more flags so they could pick more fabrics. So, I found some more white fabric and they made 6 more.
Fabric bunting assembly
The hand decorated fronts were matched up with a colourful back. I alternated the flags of each child and made sure that the colours on the back were nicely distributed as well. The flags were stitched right sides together at 3 sides, leaving the top open for turning. After pressing I topstitched around the edges of the flags. If the fabric bunting is ever washed, the flags now just need a quick press to make them look great again. My daughter took my phone while I was topstitching and took some pictures of me (and a lot of random stuff in my sewing room). I thought this was fun since I hardly have any pictures of myself sewing.
To make the binding I used a bias tape maker but I cut the fabric on the straight of grain instead of on the bias since it does not need to stretch. Before stitching the flags to the binding, I glued them in place with wonder tape so they wouldn’t shift while stitching. At each end of the binding I added a small elastic loop that can be used to hang the bunting.
On one side I added my fabric label and on the other side I put a small tag listing my daughters’ names and the month the fabric bunting was made in. I think my dad appreciated the gift and I hope it will be used a lot more often to decorate their living room during parties!
I admired them in person this weekend and they looked very cheerful. My wonderful nieces did a really great job. It is a perfect fit for the width of their living room as well.
Wow! I didn’t know they’re still up!
What a great idea and amazing gift!
Thank you!
What a wonderful gift idea for your father. And a special memory for your children to carry with them. Love it!
Thank you! It was a lot of fun to make.
That is a great gift! Love them.
Thank you!
What a special and thoughtful gift! That is so sweet your daughter photographed you in action after you took her photo with her sister making art!
Thank you! I was surprised that some of her pictures actually turned out quite good!
I bet he loves it! The nice thing about bunting is that you can never have too much, and if you put the date on this piece, and make another next year, he’ll have a record of how the girls improved their drawing skills, plus more festive decoration 🇳🇱
According to my sister they have not yet taken it down. I am sure my daughters are also going to love seeing their flags again when they are visiting this weekend. My oldest was a bit sad that we couldn’t keep it!
What a brilliant idea and a beautiful gift for a grandfather.
Thank you! The gift was certainly appreciated.