How To Make A Vintage Flag

We proudly fly Old Glory from our farmhouse, but have come to love crafting our own versions of the American flag.  For this DIY project we were able to create one using all vintage items ~ lace, yard stick, and the stars from an American flag ~ and this unique design will be loved (and talked about) by all!

It all began with a large box of vintage lace I won at the auction for $10, and honestly I had never seen anything quite so beautiful.  A majority of the bin contained stunning white and cream lace, but it also contained a variety of other colors and designs.  My heart skipped a beat when I saw the bin and I knew it had to be mine…all mine!

The vintage yard stick was picked up for $2 at an antique-crafting show, and I now regret not buying at least two of them, bummer.  I found the remnant star piece (which actually came from an authentic cloth flag) in a material bin at an antique shop.  The moment I saw it I knew I couldn’t leave it behind and have been lugging it around for a few year, waiting for the right project to use it on.

We made our vintage flag with materials I had on hand, but if you are having a hard time finding lace, or simply do not want to spend the money buying it there are plenty of other options you can use for this project.  Old t-shirts, towels or ribbon will work just fine, and many of those items can be picked up at your local thrift store.  Now, go find a stapler.  Yes, a desk stapler is all you need for this job.

Your first step is to measure how long you would like your flag to be and cut (or tear) your pieces for the stripes.  If you are having a hard time find material for the stars, simply use a piece of blue cloth or towel, if you are feeling really ambitious you can cut stars out of material or felt.  But I love the idea of simply having blue material, and this ribbon would have also worked nicely.

Lay out your strips onto your yard stick, make sure that the placement is correct, you do not want your stars (or blue) to be in the wrong spot.  Open your stapler and open staple the material to the yard stick; you know, like you were stapling something to the wall.

To attach the stripes to the  stars (or blue) simply line up the two edges and staple, allowing the material to hang.

That’s it, that’s all it takes to make the most unique vintage flag around.

We absolutely love our vintage flag and it hangs proudly on our front porch.  If you are looking for a smaller flag project, take a peek at our patriotic American wreath!

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