BEE BUNTING

Foundation Paper Piece some bright buzzy bees and a cheery sentiment to bring a little fun to your home décor

YOU WILL NEED

■ Assorted scraps for bees and letters

■ Background fabric: ½yd

■ Backing fabric: ½yd

■ Binding fabric: two (2)

2½in x 42in strips

■ Dark blue embroidery thread

■ One (1) copy each of Letter templates B (Section A and B), H, A and Y (Section A and B) and Left and Right Bee templates (Section A and B)

■ Two (2) copies each of the and Letter templates E and P

FINISHED SIZE ■ 42in per strip of bunting

NOTES

■ Seam allowances are ¼in, unless otherwise noted.

■ Press seams to the side, unless otherwise instructed.

■ FPP = Foundation Paper Piecing.

■ FPP templates include seam allowances around the outer edge only.

■ For templates see p87.

■ For FPP, set your stitch length to 1.5.

■ Fabrics supplied by Alice Caroline (alicecaroline.co.uk) and Sew Hot (sewhot.co.uk)

FABRICS USED

■ Floral fabrics are from a strip roll by Liberty.

■ Coloured solids are from the Sleeping Porch collection by Heather Ross for Windham Fabrics.

■ Background fabric is an Essex

Yarn Dyed Linen in Oyster by Robert Kaufman.

■ Backing fabric is Birds in Green from the Strawberry Biscuit collection by Elea Lutz for Penny Rose Fabrics.

CUTTING OUT

1

Using the template as a guide, cut the fabric pieces for each section of the FPP template, making sure the pieces will be at least ¼in larger than the section they will cover, all the way around.

PIECING THE BEES

2

Foundation Paper Piece Section A as follows. Place the fabric piece for Section 1A right side up on the unprinted side of the template against the section. Ensure that the fabric covers the whole section, plus at least ¼in all around. Pin in place.

3

Place the Section 2A fabric piece right side down on top of the Section 1A piece, matching up raw edges on the side where Sections 1 and 2 will be joined and making sure that when folded back along the seam line, Section 2 will be covered by the fabric plus at least ¼in all around. Pin in place.

4

Turn the template over to the printed side and stitch along the marked line between Sections 1 and 2, backstitching at the beginning and end of the seam.

STITCH EXTRA FLAGS TO MAKE YOUR BUNTING DOUBLE SIDED OR BACK WITH A SWEET PRINT!

Fold the template away from the seam and trim to ¼in. Fold the template back, turn the work to the fabric side, flip Section 2 open and then press.

5 Continue working in this way to piece the remaining sections on the FPP template, in numerical order. Trim along the dotted seam allowance line.

6 Repeat steps 2–5 to piece each of the template B Sections 1–10. Pin together completed Sections A and B, carefully matching points. Return your stitch length to its normal length for piecing. Sew the pinned Sections A and B together. Remove the paper from back of the bunting flag and press the seam open.

PIECING THE LETTERS

7 Follow the method outlined in steps 2– 6 to FPP each of your letter bunting panels. Make one of letters B, H, A and Y, and two of E and P.

ASSEMBLING THE BUNTING FLAGS

8 Add any embroidered details to your bunting flags. Susi embroidered the bees’ eyes with French knots, and made a bee sting with a simple running stitch.

9 Using the outer edge of one of your completed bunting flags as a template, cut the pieces from your backing fabric. Lay one on top of a pieced bunting flag, right sides together (Fig A). Sew around the edges, leaving the top edge open for turning.

10 Clip notches in the curved section of the seam and trim the seam allowance near the top (Fig B). Turn right side out and press. Topstitch around the sewn edges with a / in seam allowance. Repeat steps 9–10 with all of your bunting flags (Fig C).

FINISHING THE BUNTING

11 If you want one long strip of binding, join the strips together end-to-end, using diagonal seams. Otherwise keep your two binding strips separate. Press the seams open and trim any dog ears. Fold the binding strips in half lengthways, wrong sides together, and press. Fold the edges in to meet the centre fold and press again.

12 Find the middle of your binding strips by folding in half and finger pressing. Arrange your bunting flags across the binding strips, starting in the centre and working outwards on either side, taking care to leave approx. 1½in between each bunting flag.

13 Insert the top of each flag inside the binding fold and pin in place. Topstitch along the binding strips with a / in seam allowance to secure your flags in place.