{All images from Author’s personal collection*}
As I mentioned last week, it has been rather busy in our household this week and wedding planning has very much taken a backseat. I did however find time to make a start on the bunting which we are using to decorate our marquee at the reception and thought you might like to see how it is turning out, as it is nowhere near finished. Clearly, we need much more than this!
I began by sending an e-mail to all the female family members and friends I could think of that might have hoarded scraps of fabric over the years and so far have received a bag of donations from my Mum, her sister, my Grandmothers, M’s Mum and other female friends. I also dug out my childhood material box and have utilised some of what I found in there too. The nice thing about this is that most of the fabric is offcuts of clothes or things people have made. In photo 3 you can see the remains of my Mum’s nightie that she wore when pregnant with me, a pink and white spotty dress I wore when I was little and the blue sprigged fabric which comprised my ‘wedding outfit’ as a child [a skirt and waistcoat which could be worn over a white blouse – it lasted for years as it could be let out – much more wear than a dress which I would have quickly outgrown]. The floral fabric under the number 6 is left over from a dress my Mum made for summer events, which she wore to my graduation. So a lot of history which I hope might spark some reminiscing at the wedding.
The bunting itself is very easy to make – I made a triangle template (photo 1) and cut out the shapes from the fabric (some of which I had to sew together to create a piece large enough). I then sewed the two triangles together, insides out, and turned them into little triangular bags, which were then turned the right way out (photo 4) and ironed flat (photo 5). I then pinned them to a length of tape – this one is an old piece that Mum found which is why it is so short, the rest will be attached to 20m lengths – and then sewed them onto the tape. My stitching is not very straight but this was the first attempt (and I don’t think anyone will see when it is attached to the marquee). Photo 7 gives some idea of how it looks when it is laid out [please excuse our sofa].
So, white marquee with multi-coloured bunting and miss-matched crockery. Aside from the table decorations (which I will post about soon) these will be our only decorations. I hope it won’t look too sparse, rather English garden party. And the best bit? We can take them home and then we have ready made birthday party decorations for the future…
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*With the usual apologies for the poor quality snaps from my BlackBerry. I really must get a better camera when I have some money.