Autumn Bunting

Since I'm off for the week I vowed I would actually do something other than sit around and pin things on Pinterest. My mantle was looking a little plain, and I had a roll of white burlap that was just lying around getting wrinkly. So I made a bunting!

I started by cutting a 5.5"x7" triangle from paper, and used it to cut eight pieces of burlap.

This burlap is a really wide weave.. It would be tons easier to use one with a tighter weave I'm sure.

Then I cut some leaves from three different scraps I have. My scrap collection is intense.. kind of a fabric pack rat here

 I layered three at a time on two of the bunting pieces to use on the edges of the word "Autumn" and just sewed lines approximately where the lines would be on an actual leaf. I didn't worry too much about precision because I'm lazy I wanted it to look a little frayed and rustic.

Next, I cut small rectangles from the same fabrics and hand lettered them with this dandy little fabric marker.

At this point, I tried reinforcing the edges of the burlap with a zig-zag stitch, but it made the piece all... wiggly. So I decided to skip that, since the bunting was not going to be handled a lot anyway.

Next, I sewed the letter blocks on to the bunting pieces, again leaving the edges raw and being careful not to stretch or warp the burlap.

Putting it all together:

At this point, I just used a piece of bias tape (extra-wide, double fold) in a cream color as the top string. It's much easier than trying to make your own, IMO. 

I placed the triangles in the bias fold and sewed a zig-zag stitch down the length of the tape.

And that's it! Makes the room look just a little bit more festive. 

Let me know what you think, happy crafting!