Halloween is my second favorite holiday of the year only behind Christmas. The aesthetic of the spooky imagery set against a backdrop of cozy autumn just feels warm and fun. I love to decorate my home to celebrate the season. Most store-bought Halloween decorations these days are cheap, mass-produced plastic. This year, to avoid those cheap decorations, I made this fabric garland (also known as bunting). Not only does it add a different texture to your decor, it is so fun to make and excellent for beginner sewists.

I had a giftcard to my local sew shop so I picked up some Halloween-themed fat quarters (18″ x 21″ or a “fat” 1/4 yard of fabric) to make this festive bunting. You could make bunting like this using any fabric for any occasion.

MATERIALS

• 100% cotton fat quarters (quilting cotton works best)
• double fold bias tape—I used .25 inches but .50 inches would also work, especially if you decide to make larger triangles
• fabric scissors or regular scissors
• fabric pen or regular pen
• sewing machine
• wonder clips for setting bias tape
• thread
• optional: triangle ruler

INSTRUCTIONS

Create a triangle cutout to your desired shape and size for your bunting. I used an equilateral triangle and made it using a triangle ruler. For a more pennant look, use an isosceles triangle. My triangle measured 5.75 inches (14.75 centimeters) on all sides, which allowed for .25 inches (just over .6 centimeters) seam allowance.

Trace the triangle onto the back of the fabric, using up as much of each fat quarter as possible. I made around nine sewed triangles per fat quarter. Save your scraps! You can make many other fun crafts with them.

Cut out triangles. I used fabric scissors but you could also use regular scissors or a rotary cutter.

To make the bunting reversible, place two triangles of the same pattern right sides together. Determine the top of the triangle based on the pattern before you begin sewing. Two layers of fabric will make it sturdier and help it hang better.

If you don’t want to make it reversible, I would still advise folding over the edges of each triangle and sewing to create a smooth edge and prevent fraying over time.

Sew the two triangle edges together using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. Only sew the two sides that will be hanging down. No need to sew the side that will be under the bias tape. If you make larger triangles, you could do a larger seam allowance to make it easier, such as 3/8 inch or 1/2 inch.

Snip off the point of the triangle where the two sewed edges meet. This helps it lay flat when you flip it right side out.

Flip the triangle right side out. You can use a point turner to make this easier. A toothpick would also work.

Iron the triangle. This step is essential and cannot be skipped. You can see the difference between an ironed triangle (right) and unironed triangle (left) in the picture below. Tip: Spritz a little steam directly onto your ironing board to use as a grip, which helps ensure you have a clean, crisp ironed seam.

Repeat for all triangles.

Arrange triangles in the order you want them to be on the bunting. I made them overlap slightly to make sewing the bias tape onto them easier.

To apply the bias tape, first unwrap it (But do not iron! You need those folds!) and place the right edge of the bias tape so it aligns with the top, unsewed edge of the triangles. Secure with wonder clips. You may want to leave extra bias tape on each end of the garland to make it easier to tie the garland to the surface you’re hanging it from.

“Stitch the ditch” along that first fold closest to the right side edge of the bias tape and the open edge of the triangle.

Fold over the bias tape and pin in place. Topstitch the bias tape onto each triangle and you’re finished!

TIPS

• Be aware of whether your fabric has an “up” or “down” side based on the pattern. I wanted to use up as much of each fat quarter as possible but this meant that some of the triangles were upside down, and for those triangles I just put them on the “back” side of the garland (the garland is reversible, but probably no one will notice if a few triangles of fabric are upside down).
• You can use a fabric pen, but since I drew my triangles on the back of the fabric and no one would see that part later, I just used a regular pen.
• You can use fabric scissors, regular scissors, or a rotary cutter to cut out the triangles. I used fabric scissors; I found that I have more control over detailed projects like this and my cuts turn out better. It was tedious, but I just sat in front of the TV while I cut them out and it went by fast.
• You can make this bunting as short or as long as you’d like. For reference, I used 7 fat quarters and got roughly 63 finished triangles. With the size of triangle I used, about 2.5 finished triangles made about a foot of bunting.