Parade Day Sew Along- Part 3

YEAAAAHHHHHHHH!! It’s actually sunny today! My spirit is soaring. It’s amazing what a little sunshine can do for a light deprived Michigander. =)

With the sunshine it is easy to put me in a summery 4th of July mood.

So lets get started making our little parade buntings  made out of dresedens.

Cutting:

If using fat quarters :cut 3 strips of blue 1- 3/4  x  22

                                                 3 strips of red 1- 3/4  x  22

If using yardage: cut 2 strips of blue 1 -3/4 x wof

                                        2 strips of red 1- 3/4 x wof

Sewing

Sew the red strips to the blue strips  using a 1/4 inch seam. Press toward the blue  (we will be pressing half toward the red in later steps.) Your strips should measure 3 inches.

Now using your dresden ruler, line it up on the 3 inch mark.  The 1- 1/2 inch mark on the ruler should be right across the middle where the red and blue meet. Using your rotary cutter,  trim the side off and make your first cut.

Flip your ruler upside down and make your second cut.

Continue cutting your strips until you have a pile of 20 red on the top blue on the bottom , and 20 blue on the top red on the bottom.

Using a quarter inch seam allowance fold your blades in half at the “fat” end and feed them through your machine.

  You can chain stitch these.

Now cut the threads that bind your blades together. For each blade you will trim the corner off with scissors (being careful not to cut into the stitching), finger press the seam open, turn the blade tip inside out, and using a bodkin or something sharp push the tip out.

Now take 10 matching blades to your ironing board and press the point of the blade.

Leave 5 of the blades pressed toward the blue fabric, and press 5 of the blades toward the red fabric.  This will aid in butting up your seams when we sew them together.

Here are my first 10 blades ready to become a bunting!

Take two blades and butt up the seams, you can pin if you like. Sew using a 1/4 inch seam back stitching at the beginning and end. Sew together 5 pairs.

Press the pairs and then sew 2 pairs together, repeating until you have sewn 10 blades together.

Repeat until you have made 2 blue at the top and 2 red at the top buntings.

Aren’t they cute?? Love it!

We now have 4 flags, 1 star, and 4 buntings.

I’ll be back next week for part 4!

Later gators,

Melissa