Now, I have to say, this flag was not my idea. I have see them for sale on ETSY, just type in " rustic American lace flag" and you should find some. But I thought I would make my own. I think the ones on ETSY are made with lace ribbon, but I bought some lace panels and cut them into strips. There is also some yarn and rick/rack thrown in.
I want to warn you, I am not much for measuring. And I sure as heck didn't measure when I was making this. I think it is a fact that stopping to measure interferes with the creative process and if it isn't a fact someone needs to change that. I have gone back to the finished product and measured what is there. I tried my best to guestimate.
This flag is about 18 inches across and 17 inches high about another 2 inches make up the dowel ends. When I was making it I was thinking about hanging it in a spot where both sides could be seen. So my description and instructions are as if I were doing that. I think that is the reason it looks so poofy. But I ended up liking it that way.
I realized after taking these pictures I should have straightened my door mat out, oh well.
The bunting and pin wheels were bought at my local "In Home" store. I'm sure you can get the bunting in a lot of stores, but I haven't seen these large pin wheels anywhere else. They are about 16 inches across. They look really cool when they are all spinning.
What I used for this project:
Wooden dowel, one of the ones that is fairly thick in diameter, cut to about 20 inches long. I just used a little hand saw.
Gold craft paint
Foam paint brush
Small drill bit
Drill
3 or 4 panels of different patterned white lace fabric, I bought mine at Hancock Fabrics. Each panel is about 60 inches wide, I got about a yard in each panel.
2 panels of different patterned red lace fabric. Again I got mine at Hancock Fabrics. Each panel is about 60 inches wide, I got about a yard of each.
Blue fabric with white stars, again I got this a Hancock Fabrics. If I was doing this over again, I would just get some denim and paint some stars on it. You will need about a quarter of a yard of whatever fabric you use.
Craft glue
Fluffy, Fuzzy white yarn
Red Ric/Rack
Red Ribbon of some sort.
Monofilament for a hanging thread.
Scissors
To Make this:
1. First I cut my dowel rod to the 20 inch length.
2. Paint it with the gold craft paint and allow to dry.
3. For the hanger. Use your drill to make a hole in each end of the dowel going through the sides, not the ends. Go in about 1 1/2 inches from end and drill your holes. Make sure you drill them in the same spot on each side. I sort of thought of the rod as having a top and a bottom. I drilled through the "top" all the way through. I suppose you could use some sort of glue and just tie them on, but this did not seem very secure to me.
4. I threaded my monofilament through the hole on each end. I then tied it to make it secure.
5. Next I got my lace panels and cut them into strips. I cut them about 2 1/2 inches wide. I didn't cut the length, just left it as it was. Now, if you are one of those people who have a rotary cutter and a plastic cutting mat, this should be pretty fast and neat for you. But I don't have any of that fancy stuff, so my strips are not very neat.
6. I started in the middle and tied 3 strips of different white lace on the dowel. You may want to use a dab of glue to help hold them in place. I didn't, but that is up to you. I was a little unsure of how this was to end up and I wanted to be able to add and subtract as needed.
7. I cut 6 strips of the fuzzy white yarn about 64 inches long. They will be handing below your ribbon, but I just went along and trimmed it to length when I was done. I took three of the lengths of yarn and tied them onto the dowel on one side of the ribbon. I just bunched the three together and tied them on as a group. Repeat on other side of ribbon.
8. I probably scrunched them together more than I should have as this flag is verrrry full and poofs out a lot. With that being said, continue to fill in with the strips of lace and yarn. Do what looks good to your eye. Fill dowel until you reach the monofilament. I worked my way out from the middle, putting some on one side and then the other, hoping to make it look symmetrical. I finished with the white before adding any red.
9. Go in and place your red lace strips, rick/rack, red ribbon or whatever you are using. I just did this by eye, no real measuring(I hate to measure). I mixed it up hoping to make it look random. I tied them on just like the white.
10. I then cut my blue fabric into about a 25 x 19 piece. I just put it over the one side on top of the lace strips. I did run a bead of glue along the top of the the lace and then placed the blue fabric on top of that. I did this to hold the blue fabric in place. I also ran a bead of glue down one of the strips of lace and pushed the blue fabric onto that, just to make it stay put.
No comments:
Post a Comment