Sewing a Flag Using Vinyl



It's the holiday season and everyone's shopping and enjoying time baking.  Often, I find it hard to get in to that spirit because like many, I live in a tropical zone.  Our temperatures don't dip to the extreme cold for a long period of time making us feel like it's winter - which naturally says, "Oh, Christmas is coming!"  I force myself to get in to that holiday spirit by making sure to deck the halls like crazy.  That includes the outside of my house!  Well, magically, my Christmas flag disappeared, and 7 days in to December, hubby wanted something on the flagpole.  After searching for a flag I liked, without Santa and snow, reindeer and snowflakes, I realized I needed to get to work to make hubby happy.  Mission complete.


What you'll need for this project:

- 1 yard of Ripstop Nylon Fabric (59" bolt Utility fabric)

- Cotton thread  

- Vinyl Phrases/Pictures/Decals

**For a garden flag, cut 2 fabric to a size 13 X 19. The final measurements will be 12 x 18.


Here is what I did:

1. Place your fabrics wrong sides together. Cut the selvages, or 1", off the ends of your material.

2. Ripstop is finicky!! You do not want to pin any of this material. It will leave holes in it.  

using a small stitch length, 2.5. and .5 distance, sew around 4 sides of the fabric, using a 1/4" seam allowance. Leave a small area open on one of the four sides to turn the fabric right side out; about 4" will be enough. Turn right side out.



3. Once you turn the fabric right side out, figure out what side you would like to be the top.  Fold "the top" down 1 1/2" inches and tape it down.  Do not pin. Pinning will leave holes!  

Create the "tube" that the flag pole will be entered in to, and eventually hang from. Sew across, removing the tape as you sew across, close to the finished seam.  

  



Start below the sewn line and topstitch all around the fabric's 3 remaining sides. Sew 1/8" from edge. Continue around the sides until you reach the opposite side of the top where you started (just under the "tube."  


I folded this fabric up because it was too long for the picture, but when you are done, you should have finished edges all around your fabric.  It is now a flag but it is waiting to be decorated!


I used my Cricut to create a few different decals:  






I then fold the flag in half lengthwise - to find the middle of the flag - and folded upwards so that I could find the middle of the flag that way as well.  I then folded the vinyl of each piece, spaced it out accordingly and applied heat using my heat press. I used special vinyl for nylon fabric, not regular heat transfer vinyl.  


Originally, I had this fabric laying down on a towel because it was larger than my mat but I didn't like the imprints it was making on the nylon when heated so I removed the towel and placed the flag onto a folded sheet, for the smooth backing.  I continued applying, overlapping then removing the vinyl once the clear transfer paper cooled.   



Once complete with all of the decals, I ironed the back of the flag to smooth out the back of the nylon. Viola! The finished product. 




This was the very first flag I attempted.  I made a mistake overlapping my trees - didn't get them exactly the way I wanted but ... overall, I am content.  A flag is hanging on the flagpole and it does not contain snow, snowflakes and any indication of cold weather. It will work for now!

Get to sewing y'all!

Nikki