Sewing Tutorial: Reversible Chalk Cloth Bunting

We recently had a friends wedding that we weren't able to attend. I still really wanted to send a gift and so we bought them a cute chalkboard that we could personalise with a message, and then they could erase it and use it in their house. Practical, original and fun.

And then I bought this chalk cloth fabric. I've made some portable chalkboard mats for the kids and then I thought that this was a fun idea. Bunting looks so effective and lining it with chalk cloth means that we can reuse it for lots of different occasions.

I started by cutting out triangles of chalk cloth and fabric of the same size, a little larger than how I wanted them to be in the finished product. I also decided to make my own bias binding to string them together, so I had to cut out several long strips of fabric along the bias and feed it through my bias binding maker.

Place cotton and chalk cloth together with wrong sides together. Sew around the perimeter, about 5mm in from the edges. Use pinking shears to cut along the side edges and trim the top edge with normal scissors.

Pin and string together using the bias binding, closing the ends.

Back to the sewing machine

Life got busy. Since going back to work back in November, sewing and crafting had stopped. Although it's only been part time (2 days a week), there's been Christmas, holidays and two little children who've suddenly needed a bit of extra special care at bed times. Mr now 14 months has been going through some big separation anxiety, and Miss 3 has just been in one of those phases where she needs some extra stories and cuddles in order to go off to sleep.

But then I realised how much I've been missing it. A long list of projects was made and these hats became the first project to be ticked off the list. They're reversible which makes them so much easier to sew, and fun to mix and match the designs. I've made four different sizes in each design and they're all up in my etsy shop already.

I loved this jungle animal fabric when I saw it on sale ages ago but hadn't been able to think of any projects to make - too many little boys being born around here! It makes a nice contrast to the sea life print below, which is on the reverse side.

I first bought this dinosaur print to make a smart little collared shirt for my son to wear to his first birthday party, and ended up buying some more as it's just so cute.

I opted for robots on the reverse side. Cute, no?

My daughter had a pillowcase dress from this Hello Kitty fabric when she was just over 1 year old - I love how it looks made up as this hat!

Paired up with a nice quiet polkadot pattern on the reverse side.

Both of my kids have hats made from this collection of fabrics, although the caravan print is a new addition to my fabric stash. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I love the finished look.

A hat pattern and tutorial will soon follow!