Pride in the Flag

I really LOVE how vibrant are these colours!

I just finished my second flag. I don't know how many I'll make, but I sure enjoy creating them.

I learned A LOT in sewing the first one, which I have belatedly titled, 'Reclaiming the Flag'. I learned that 1) Flags aren't hard to make, but unless you follow a well-written tutorial, best assume your efforts will be improv. 2) My flags are art as well as defiance tools. I want them to be pretty as well as functional. And 3) Just when I thought with Kawandi-inspired quilting that I was ready to give up my sewing machine, I was wrong.

First off, here are the measurements, all pre-sewing: Union rectangle measured seventeen by twenty-four inches. Short stripes were three inches wide, thirty-five inches long. Long stripes were three inches wide and fifty-nine inches long. I sewed some test strips to made sure the stripes were the correct width, and I could have increased the stripe width to maybe three and an eighth wide, but only if I really wanted to be picky.

This makes a flag that can be gripped at the corners and extended fully for someone with a wingspan of five feet, which means me, lol. But let me note that on Monday, holding up a flag for well over two and a half hours made for some SORE UPPER ARMS afterwards.

I chose mostly Kona solids for the stripes; the dark orange is a Connecting Threads solid, while the yellow is a bargain cotton from Joann. All the low-volume stripes are Art Gallery Fabrics. AGF is great for not fraying, as are batiks. I know the Kona fabrics will be a stringy mess eventually, but I didn't want those stripes to overwhelm the pink and blue union improv. The AGF prints aren't too busy, in my opinion.

Union block up close; twenty EPP hearts, plus more in the top fabric as a bonus.

As for that union block.... I gathered pink and light blue scraps and simply began sewing. I chose fairly bright prints so they wouldn't looked washed out when set against the vibrant solids. I thoroughly LOVED putting together that block; something so spontaneous and joyful about improv stitching!

Initially I was going to use one large-ish EPP heart for the center of the union block, but as usual, I didn't realize how large that rectangle would need to be. I had three-quarter inch jewel paper pieces, so I started with fifteen jewel hearts, then added five more once I had them laid out on the block. I hand-appliqued the hearts; I considered machine-stitching them onto the block, but that would have been 1) Loud. 2) Futzy for the short sides of the papers. 3) Loud. My ears truly don't handle machine sewing that well anymore; I wear earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones. But when spread out over a few days, machine sewing is doable. Especially when the colours are MARVELOUS and the reason essential.

I'm planning to display this flag in the coming week. I might sneak in my red, white, and blue flag on Tuesday after I give it a good pressing, as well as perhaps hemming the sides as I did Pride. While the backs of both flags are exposed, at least in hemming the edges I'm minimizing the fraying. And right now, the fewer frayed edges (and nerves) the better.

On the design wall. Not as fancy as out in the wild, but how it appears after I hemmed those edges.

Not sure what the next flag will express, other than my need to dive into bright colours while fashioning my interpretation of a symbol I've loathed for years. Yet fear and loathing must be set aside, and for some strange and amazing reason, making flags brings me immense joy and peace, a wholly unexpected reaction to this particular diversion.

As long as my ears hold out, and the need for a vibrant, meaningful banner remains, I guess I'm making flags. My sewing machine escapes its cover, living to see another day....