DIY Vintage Sheet Music Bunting

Bunting can be a great effective decoration to add that little bit of personality to a wedding, especially when it’s home made – you know that that little bit of ‘you’ has been injected into your big day. With our wedding being in winter we didn’t think we could get away with the floral country fayre style bunting however we still wanted an appropriate take on it to jazz up our venue. In a feature about our gorgeous wedding stationery on the Knots and Kisses blog I saw some bunting made from vintage sheet music and loved it but rather than buying it I thought I’d have a go at making some.

I’m not in the slightest bit arty or crafty so am a total beginner at this sort of thing but it is amazing how easy and quick it has been to make and I feel a little sense of achievement. So here are my step by step instructions on how to make some beautiful vintage inspired bunting, perfect for a rich coloured winter wedding.

What you will need –

– Several sheets of vintage sheet music. One sheet makes one heart. I sourced mine from vintage.emporium57 on ebay purely for convenience however you can also find it at local charity shops, jumble sales, etc.

–  1/8 eyelets in Anodized Gold, perfect for a very thin ribbon or string. The ones I used come in packs of 40, each heart will need two eyelets so buy packs of eyelets accordingly to however many hearts you want to have on your bunting.

– A 1/8 hole punch

– A 1/8 eyelet setter

– 1 piece of paper and 1 piece of card for templates

– Pencil

– Hammer

– Scissors

– 3mm ribbon in your chosen colour which can be found in any craft shop or ebay

– A protection mat to protect your table (I used an upside down place mat)

1. Making the template –

 I chose to make mine heart shaped but you can obviously make the template whatever shape you wish. For a symmetrical heart shaped template take a piece of paper and fold it in half. Draw half a heart to the size that you’d like the template to be and then cut it out keeping the paper folded in half. Once it cut out and opened up you should have a perfect looking heart, if not try this step again until you have a shape you are happy with. Once you have done this carefully draw round the paper template onto a piece of card or something equally as solid and cut out the shape. Now you have your perfect template for the rest of your bunting.

2. Making the hearts –

Now that you have made your sturdy template fold each piece of sheet music in half and put the template along the folded edge of the paper. Draw around the template making sure that when cut out the folded edge will remain in tact to make a 2ply heart. I chose to make the hearts 2ply just so they were a little bit sturdier but this is optional. Cut out the hearts. (See photos)

3. Hole Punching – Get your 1/8 hole puncher and a hammer and simply tap a hole into heart at either side making sure that the holes are level with each other so they hang straight.

4. Adding the eyelets – 

Once you have punched the holes you are ready to add your eyelets. Take one eyelet for each hole putting the decorative side of the eyelet on the side of the heart that will be on show. Turn the heart over and put your eyelet setter into the stem of the eyelet. Tap down with the hammer until the eyelet is secure in the paper. Repeat this step with each eyelet.

5. Threading your ribbon –

Your hearts are now finished and ready for your ribbon to be thread. Simply thread your 3mm ribbon through the holes spacing your hearts on your thread to taste.

Et voila!

I might be biased but I really do think this sort of decoration is fab and very fitting with a vintage theme wedding. Please let me know if you give it a try, I would love to see your finished bunting.

Laura x