The Speckled Dog: Bold Valentine's Day Bunting Tutorial

Last week, I ran across a printable bunting that wasn't exactly in what I would consider traditional Valentine's Day colors. The flag was made up of horizontal black & white stripes, and then there was a plain red heart in the center. It was so bold, and eye catching!

I really wanted to make a fabric version of it so I started digging through my fabric stash. I found one black and white striped fat quarter. Hmmmm, how would I be able to make enough flags out of this little bit of fabric? I could just use this fabric on the front, and another on the back. Or maybe I could just make a single-sided flag. Then I wouldn't have to sew each flag. How could I make it crisp, and not a droopy mess? Would interfacing work? Is that how your stiffen things up, and keep the edges from fraying? I now know the answers to these questions. Yes, the interfacing worked. I was able to kill two birds with one stone. It reinforced the flag fabric, and finished the edges to keep them from fraying.

Supplies:
1 fat quarter for flags
1 fat quarter for hearts
Pellon iron on interfacing (sold in packages, or by the yard)
Heavy Duty Heat-n-Bond or another iron on adhesive
1 package of red bias tape
thread to match bias tape
flag template (you can google one)
heart template (you can google one of these too)

Tools:
pen
iron/ironing board
scissors
spray bottle with water
straight pins
sewing machine

Directions:
For the flags:

First, cut your interfacing to the same size as your fat quarter.
Following the interfacing instructions, iron the interfacing to the back of your fabric.
Trace the flag template onto the back of the fabric/interfacing square, and cut out.

interfacing has been fused to wrong side of fabric

flag template has been traced onto the interfacing

For the hearts:
When I had my hearts cut out, I lay one on top of a flag to see how it would look. I was disappointed to find that I could see the stripes of the flag fabric through my red heart fabric. I decided that I'd need to double my heart fabric to keep the stripes from showing. This part might seem a little involved, but I couldn't come up with a better solution. So...

Cut a piece of Heat-n-Bond the same size as your heart fabric fat quarter.
Following the instructions, fuse the Heat-n-Bond to the back of your heart fabric.
Once it cools down, peel the paper backing off.
Heat-n-Bond sides together, fold the fabric in half, and iron until the fabric has fused together.
Now cut another piece of Heat-n-Bond the same size as your doubled fabric, and fuse it to one side of the doubled fabric. Leave the paper packing on!
Now you're going to trace your heart template onto the paper backing.
Cut out your hearts.

heat-n-bond fused to red fat quarter

fabric folded over and fused together

2nd piece of heat-n-bond, with templates traced, fused to one side of folded fabric.

Putting it all together:

Following the Heat-n-Bond instructions, peel the paper backing from the hearts, and fuse them, one at a time, to their respective flags.
Open up the bias tape strip, and tuck your flags in the fold, pinning as your go along. Make sure you leave some room at the ends of the tape for tying.
Sew tape to flags, removing pins as you go.
Finish off the ends of the tape by double-folding, and then back or lock stitching.