nursery projects {bunting quilt}

These days I am loving flag bunting. And I know I'm not the only one - it's everywhere!

{Although, when I told Drew that I was making a bunting quilt for Miss Bug he said, "bunting? Like baseball?" oh, husbands - love 'em. :-) }

I knew from the start of my pregnancy that I wanted to incorporate a bunting banner somewhere in the nursery. They're such a fun way to add color and cheer to a space! Instead of draping an actual banner in the room I decided to put it on her quilt!

I've made a few quilts, but they have all been the same pattern {different fabrics, same base plan} so this was a major departure. I found a couple tutorials online, but none were exactly what I wanted, so I went my own way using them for inspiration.

Two of the tutorials I read and liked the most can be found here and here.

Want to make your own? Ok! It really wasn't that hard and I learned a lot along the way. I'll even share all of my mistakes so you'll {hopefully} have more instant success and less one-on-one time with your seam ripper than I did. Fun times. :-)

What you'll need:

- 1/4 yd of each fabric you'd like to use for the flags {this was more than enough for my blanket}
- around 2 yds of fabric for the quilt front + 2 yds for the back, cut to whatever size you want the final quilt to be
{this amount totally depends on how big your quilt is. Mine ended up being 56"x42"}
- cotton batting
- pins, lots of pins
- sewing machine
- thread
- bias tape

{1} First up, pick your fabrics! This is the most fun. Since we're expecting a little girl and her nursery is mostly navy blue, pink, and aqua I decided to stick with those base colors - adding in a few splashes of bright yellow and multi-colored chevron for extra fun.

{2} Next, cut out your flags

I decided that I wanted mine to be 7" across and 7" from base to tip, but this is totally up to you as well. I'm sure there's a more efficient way to do this, but what seemed easiest to me was to make a template flag out of scrap material, then simply "trace" around it to cut all the flags exactly the same.

{3} Arrange the flags on your top fabric and pin 'em down.

{4} Once you've got it all arranged sew around each flag to hold them in place. I sewed across the tops first, then went back and sewed down the sides. I used a zig zag stitch so I wouldn't have to fold under every raw edge of each flag {that looks nice, but would take forever}. The zig zag keeps the raw edges from fraying.

{only the top of the flag is sewn in this photo, but I did the sides next}

{5} Your quilt top is now done!

{6} Layer the quilt top on the wrong side of the backing fabric with the cotton batting in between. For the backing I used minky that I had on hand - it is SO soft, I want a minky blanket for me!

{7} Pin all 3 layers together and sew a straight stitch around the quilt edges to connect it all together.

One mistake I made was not to put lots of pins all across the quilt. I just pinned the sides together and things shifted a bit while I was sewing - grrr... When you do it, pin the heck out of the thing, it's worth it.

{8} Sew a straight stitch around each flag to "quilt" the blanket together. This keeps the front, center, and back from flopping apart in the middle of the quilt.

{9} At this point your quilt is completely together, but the edges are still raw. To finish this off I used bias tape as binding. I've never used bias tape before and was pretty intimidated, but it was so easy. Full credit for my success goes to this tutorial.

Here's what I used...but in navy blue.

I don't have any photos of attaching the bias tape, but if you follow the link above it's simple to finish.

That's it!

I'm in love with how it turned out. It's exactly the cheerful addition to baby bug's room that I was hoping it would be!