Make A Sunflower Garden Flag

I made a strawberry garden flag last summer, but even with fabric protection spray it developed mildew because of the excessive rainfall last year. You can read the tutorial here: How to Make A Summery Strawberry Garden Flag. This year, I decided to go with a sunflower-themed flag. Sunflowers are friendly, happy flowers. If you need a pick-me-up today, Make A Sunflower Garden Flag.

Materials for the Sunflower Garden Flag:

• burlap flag- Read the sewing directions here.
• small amount of cotton fabric for the flowers, stem, and flower center
• 1 1/2″ green grograin ribbon and 1 1/2″ sunflower ribbon
• 1/4 yard Pellon
• fabric protectant spray
• cigarette lighter or matches
• sunflower pattern- Print yours here.
• basic sewing supplies

In 2018, I made a bunch of garden flags from 14 X 20 burlap fabric pieces. You can read the directions here. I made the Strawberry Garden Flag as a guest post for flusterbuster.com. To find the football, Easter egg, or valentine flag pictured in the collage above, go to the search box on this blog and enter “flag.” I finished decorating the last two original burlap flags today by sewing two Sunflower Garden Flags. For the first step, print a sunflower pattern. You can access mine here.

You can either trace around the paper pattern with a pencil, then cut, or pin the paper pattern to your fabric and cut. Pinning the paper directly to the fabric is definitely faster. I used a green polka dot cotton fabric for the stem, sunflower cotton for the petals, and brown flannel for the centers.

Next, cut a Pellon pattern for each flower piece. Pellon is a stabilizer that gives body to the fabric. You can purchase it by the roll or by the yard. Pellon will give your project a finished, professional feel. For a smooth, pucker-free flag, you can use iron- on adhesive to apply the flower to the flag. It prevents shifting as well. Sadly, Walmart did not have any iron-on adhesive. They barely have any thread. I guess everyone is sewing during the pandemic!

Fold the burlap flag vertically and horizontally, then pin the center. You can see my centered pin above. Use it as a guide to pin your flowers to the flag. I pinned one flower slightly above the other one.

Measure the sunflower ribbon by laying it just under the pole insert. Make sure you don’t sew over the area where the garden flag pole will be inserted! Fold the ends of the ribbon under and pin. I used stitch #7 on my Brother sewing machine to sew all around the ribbon.

Now it’s time to applique those flowers! I used the thickest applique stitch (#11) on my Brother machine. You want to make sure you’re adequately covering any Pellon peeking out underneath. I used yellow thread for one flag, then had to use green for the other. Like I mentioned earlier, thread is rather scarce right now in the stores, and Amazon is in no hurry to send nonessential items. After you’ve finished sewing around the flower. make sure you didn’t miss any fabric edges. If you did, go back and sew over those areas. Trim loose threads.

You want your project to like nice in the front and back. Other women will turn your flag around and inspect your stitching! It’s the first thing I do when I’m looking at something that was sewn at home.

Cut an 18″ piece of green grograin ribbon. Tie a simple bow. Hand sew the bow into the upper left corner of the flag. I used a large darning needle for this job, but any needle would work. Trim the ends of the ribbon in an upside down triangle by folding the ribbon in half and cutting downward. Burn the edge of the ribbon to prevent fraying.

You’re all done! Take the flag outside and spray it with fabric protectant spray! Hopefully, the spray will keep your fabric colors bright and your flag mildew-free!

Blessings!

Kristie

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