Pcs Tibetan

Create a Flag Banner

A quick and inexpensive way to decorate your home for a special occasion (birthday, anniversary, graduation) or for the festive season (Christmas) is to make a hanging flag banner.

Or, you can use the same method to make your very own Tibetan Prayer Flag or Inspirational Banner.

Measurements

One string of flags measures 3m long (3 yards) and contains 12 flags. Each finished flag measures 20cm by 23cm (or 8" by 9").

In the example below, I will be making two strings of flags. Please note you can make longer strings simply by purchasing extra material and cord.

Materials

To make the 2 flag strings, you will need 6m (6 yards) of soft cord approximately 3mm in diameter (one eight of an inch).

You will also need fabric in your choice of colours. For a party, you can choose the guest's favourite colours, or just an assortment of plain fabrics (such as red, yellow, green and blue). For Christmas, use red, white and green.

A half a metre (or half a yard) of each colour will be sufficient for our purposes.

For example, if I buy 1/2 metre each of 2 colours from a roll with a width of 120cm, I will be able to get 12 individual flags from each piece of fabric (20cm wide) into 120cm – 6 flags across, and 25cm long (an extra 2cm seam allowance per flag) into 50cm – 2 flags down. A total of 12 flags.

As not much fabric is required – check out the remnant bins for bargain fabrics.

To Make

Cut out your rectangles. As we will only be hemming the top of each flag, you may want to cut the side and bottom edges using pinking shears or other fancy scissors.

For each rectangle, turn over 2cm (5/8") hem allowance on the top and machine stitch leaving enough room to loop through your cord.

To Decorate

You can really use your imagination here. Two simple methods to decorate are with fabric paint, and with iron on transfer paper (you create your own images or words on your PC).

You can use words (Happy Holidays, Ho! Ho! Ho!, Happy Birthday), stylised pictures (like clipart), or even photos.

Inspirational Banner or Tibetan Prayer Flag

Transfer some inspirational sayings from your favourite books onto your flags.

To Finish

Simply loop your cord through the hemmed tops of each flag. If you are having trouble getting the cord through, try putting a small safety pin through your cord and using this to nudge the cord through.

About the Author

Diane Ellis has been sewing since she was very young and got her first sewing machine at 6 years old (albeit a miniature one!). She sews purely for friends and family, and enjoys making her own patterns, and using her skills to decorate her home. She is the co-author of the websiteSewing4Dummies.com where, for a limited time, you can sign up for a free 6 part sewing course called Easy Fun Sewing Projects.