Flag Wall Hanging

A while back, my sister asked if I could sew something for her. A co-worker of hers had recently received her US citizenship, and she thought it would be nice to give her an American flag wall hanging to commemorate the event. I was flattered that she asked, very excited to start, but also a bit nervous, since I've never made a wall hanging before. The first thing I did was find some images online of quilted US flag wall hangings to get some ideas and inspiration. We settled on something this one-

I thought it looked do-able (minus the lettering) and she liked it a lot. So, I sketched out a plan, headed to Joann's, bought the fabric and got to cutting and sewing. Here are my pieces laid out-

The hardest part was the diagonal aspect of the stripes. Stitching them together, then cutting them on the bias makes the edges very susceptible to stretching and warping. And once they are wavy, there's no going back. So, I used a lot of spray starch to keep those diagonal cut rows stiff. And, once I finished the whole flag top, I used some twilled tape and fused it to the underside around the edges to keep them super flat. It worked wonderfully! It kept everything in place during quilting and binding. Here's the finished top-

And here's the finished flag, quilted & bound-

Another great idea that I found online was how to hang the flag. I just sewed some triangle pieces of fabric on the back top corners, then a dowel can be slid up under them for hanging.

I had this flag on my wall for a couple days after I finished (I had to test it out, you know) and I just loved the way it turned out. I still have leftover fabric so I'd like to make another one for myself sometime soon. This was a fun project and I really hope the recipient enjoys it!