The Wedding Crafts Commence! A Hessian Bunting Banner

Warning: you might start to seriously question my naivety at attempting to craft all of the decoration for my wedding. You might start to shake your head and say: "Rosie, no matter what your best intentions, you will not have time/the patience/the time/the willingness to handcraft a lot of your wedding. And you certainly won't want to spend a whole day setting up when you have hair/flowers/cars/runaway grooms/great aunt Mildred to entertain."

I thank you for your well-meaning advice (can you tell that many IRL people have already given me said tips....?). All I can say is that, while riding high on a reason to craft again I am going to try my level best to make as much as I humanly can to decorate my reception. I started on Sunday with a homemade Hessian bunting banner having been inspired by these cuties I pinned from Pinterest.

(Source)

(Source)

(Source)



And when I say inspired - I pretty much made the exact banner, just in German. I saved myself some pounds though by making it myself. That makes me and my wedding budget VERY happy. I have so much hessian and paint yet I may yet make some more of these to compensate for my terrible sign painting. This, it turns out, even I can do!

If you want to do the same you need: hessian, a sewing machine, fabric paint, a paint brush.

It is so simple to do. You just need to make a template, which is a triangle with a rectangular head on top. Make no sense? Here's a picture to help you out.

I then painted (free hand again) onto the Hessian using white paint and a flat ended brush. You definitely need a table protector for this section.

I then fixed the paint with an iron, as indicated on the fabric paint packet.

Pin over the ends of bunting (essentially folding that rectangle in half) and then machine sew.

I didn't bother hemming my hessian - I think the 'rustic' charm is that it frays slightly. I also haven't threaded it onto the string yet as it needs to travel to Germany and I do not fancy untangling it at the other end. I also expect it is easier to put up if you thread it in situ. Well, we'll see about that in about a year's time when I try this approach for myself.

Now with that little project all done and dusted, it is time for the real bunting....the metres and metres and metres of the stuff...while repeating the mantra: "it'll be much cheaper if you make this yourself".
Wish me luck!