Free Knitted Bunting Pattern, Three Ways

There are only so many things you can do with three balls of cotton DK and an afternoon to yourself. Fortunately, this free knitted bunting pattern is one of them.

Happy Days Bunting gives you three triangle styles in one pattern: plain stocking stitch, garter stitch, and striped intarsia. Mix them, match them, or make a full strand of just the one you like best. The finished triangles are sewn to ribbon and finished with decorative buttons. It takes up very little yarn, works in any DK weight, and looks considerably more impressive than the effort involved.

What you need for this free knitted bunting pattern

Yarn

This pattern is written for DK weight cotton yarn, but any DK yarn will work. Cotton gives a crisp, neat finish with good stitch definition, which is particularly satisfying on the striped triangles. That said, if you have DK wool, acrylic, or a blend sitting in the stash waiting for a purpose, this is exactly the pattern you have been waiting for.

Three yarn options are suggested at different price points:

You will need two balls of each colour for the Knit Picks and Yarnsmiths options, and one ball of each for the King Cole Cottonsmooth DK, which has a generous 200m per 100g ball.

Needles and notions

• Straight 4mm needles
• Buttons, 2 per triangle
• Ribbon, 2.5cm wide and approximately 5m long
• Sewing needle and thread

Tension

22 sts x 30 rows = 10cm x 10cm in stocking stitch on 4mm needles. Check your tension before you begin, particularly if you are using a yarn other than cotton DK, as different fibres can behave quite differently. Craft Yarn Council yarn weight standards

Finished measurements

• Stocking stitch triangle: 16cm wide x 16cm long
• Garter stitch triangle: 17cm wide x 17cm long

Abbreviations used in this pattern

• k — knit
• p — purl
• ssk — slip, slip, knit (left-leaning decrease)
• k2tog — knit two together (right-leaning decrease)
• k3tog — knit three together
• CDD — central double decrease: slip two stitches together knitwise, knit the next stitch, pass both slipped stitches over. Two stitches decreased.
• psso — pass slipped stitch over
• RS — right side
• st(s) — stitch(es)
• WS — wrong side

You can download the full free Knitting Abbreviations Guide for a complete reference to all abbreviations used across Jane Burns patterns.

Free knitted bunting pattern instructions

Each triangle is made separately and sewn to the ribbon once all your flags are complete. Make as many as you like. A 5m ribbon will hold approximately eight to ten triangles depending on your spacing.

Plain bunting (stocking stitch)

Make one in each colour.

Garter stitch bunting

Make one in each colour.

Striped bunting (intarsia)

Wind a separate butterfly of edging yarn and use the intarsia method for colour changes.

Cast on 35 sts using 4mm needles and Yarn A.

Work rows 1–50 from the Striped Chart below.

Cast off.

Make a second striped triangle using Yarn C and Yarn A.

Technique notes

How to work the intarsia method

The striped triangles use intarsia rather than stranded colourwork. This means you carry a separate length of yarn for each colour section rather than carrying yarn across the back of the work. It sounds more complicated than it is.

When you reach a colour change, drop the current yarn, pick up the new colour from underneath the old one (this links the two yarns and prevents a gap), and continue knitting. Wind your contrast yarn into a small butterfly bobbin to keep it tidy and prevent tangling.

For a helpful video guide to working intarsia, Very Pink Knits has an excellent tutorial on YouTube — search for “intarsia knitting” on her channel.

Reading the chart

Start at the bottom right-hand corner. Read right-side rows from right to left and wrong-side rows from left to right. Each row of squares represents one row of knitting.

Making up your knitted bunting

Block each triangle lightly before making up. This is particularly worthwhile for the stocking stitch triangles, which will want to curl at the edges without a gentle steam or wet block.

Once blocked and dry, lay your triangles along the ribbon, spacing them evenly. Sew each triangle to the ribbon along the top edge, then sew two buttons to the top corners of each triangle. The buttons are decorative and do not need to be functional, so choose whatever makes you happy. Plain wooden buttons, coloured resin buttons, or something novelty, it all works.

Yarn suggestions and where to buy

*All yarn links are affiliate links, which means I earn a small commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you.

Want the PDF version of this free knitted bunting pattern?

Everything above is free, and always will be. If you would prefer a neatly formatted PDF to save, print, or work from on your tablet, the Happy Days Bunting PDF is available in the shop.

It includes all three triangle styles, the full colour chart, yarn recommendations, and everything else on this page, laid out cleanly in one document. It is a particularly good option if you plan to make several strands and want something tidy to work from over a few sessions.

If you enjoyed this pattern, check out some of my recent Free Patterns

Frequently asked questions