Happy almost-Thanksgiving! Or alternately, happy almost-Thursday!
It is, in fact, the day before Thanksgiving, and therefore I’m posting this at the last possible second, while thinking of a thousand other things, but such is holiday life (and pandemic life).
Maybe your life is a little like mine, and you’re still doing some last-minute preparations? If so, and if you’re looking for a quick and easy decorative craft to add to your Thanksgiving decor, your wish is granted! Here’s a free printable design for you. Two buntings are included, and since they just say “thankful” and “happy fall,” you could use them outside of Thanksgiving, too.
You’ll need:
- The free Thanksgiving bunting PDF — click here to download
- A printer
- Paper that you can print on (but you knew that). You can use either card stock or normal printer paper. I used normal printer paper, but if you use card stock, feel free to leave me a comment and let me know how it went!
- Scissors
- String or yarn
- Tape — I’m using washi tape, which is both cuter and easier to see in the tutorial photos, but it’s also removable and therefore more likely to unstick itself. If you also use washi tape, press it down well and don’t let it misbehave on you.
Instructions:
Step 1. Print out the file.
Step 2. Cut out the flags. Thanks to my sister, I belatedly realized that there are (at least) two ways to do this — but you can’t do it wrong as long as the flags look fine from the front, so either way is fine. Just go with your instinct. Way 1: Cut out only the colored portion. Way 2: Cut out extra white tabs at the top of each flag.
(My photo is of an older version of the design, when I was still adjusting the flag lengths, so the colored portion of my flags is shorter than yours will be.)
Step 3. Fold the tops of the flags back, toward the unprinted side of the paper, to make a tab approximately half an inch long (technically about 1.25 cm, but 1 cm works fine). Precision doesn’t matter too much. If you cut out only the colored portions in Step 2, you’ll fold part of the printed paper back. If you cut white tabs in Step 2, fold on the line where the printed flag starts.
Step 4. Cut a 24-inch (61 cm) piece of string or yarn. You could make this longer if you want a lot of leeway to tie the string around something.
Step 5. Attach the flags to the string: Place the string into the fold of each flag, and tape the tab down on the back of the paper. Try not to catch the string in the tape.
I lined up my flags along the length of yarn with the bottom bits pointed upward, then taped them, then flipped them down to face the proper way:
Step 6. Adjust the spacing of the flags to your liking.
Done! Your bunting is ready to decorate with. Tie it to two dowel rods or pencils, or drape it nicely over your pretty Thanksgiving tablecloth, or just tape it to the wall, or hold it up for a selfie. I won’t judge. But I would love to see photos if you take them, so feel free to post links in the comments if you use my buntings on social media, and I would love it if you shared this post with your friends and family.
Happy Turkey-Pumpkin-Pie-Cranberry-Sauce-and-Stuffing Day!
