Garden Flag for the 4th

Months ago I came across this placemat at the Dollar Tree and thought it would make a cute garden flag for the 4th of July. It was actually so many months ago that Ihad to write myself a note, so I'd remember that I even had it! As July approached I dug it out of the craft closet and got to work.

I had to buy a few birthday cards at Rite Aid the other day. While I was on that aisle I noticed these gift bow thingys and thought they kind of looked like fireworks. Hmmm...wheels started to turn....

I folded down one end of the placemat about an inch or two (just enough for it to fit onto my little garden flag holder) and sewed it straight across.

I love the look of pennant flags that are so popular now, so I decided to use some fabric scraps and bias tape I already had to create some little mini-pennant flags on my flag. I cut the scraps into triangle shapes and pinned them in place.

Using navy blue bias tape, I pinned it on top of the pennant flag edges and then zig-zag stitched the whole thing onto my placemat garden flag, removing pins as I sewed.

I wanted to put the word, "Celebrate," on the flag somewhere and will typically just use regular adhesive vinyl. It doesn't do as well on fabric as I'd like for it to when it's out in the weather, so I chose to use heat-transfer vinyl. I ordered a sheet of red  a long time ago and haven't used it yet, so I dug it out too. I've had it so long that I had to go back and watch the video tutorial provided by expressionsvinyl.com to remember how to use it!



It turned out just right!

Now for a bit of pizzazz...I hot glued the "fireworks"onto the garden flag and added a few star stickers also cut from vinyl.

As our Sweetbaby often says....ALL DONE! Happy 4th of July to everyone. I will be with friends and family for most of the weekend, but I'll be back on Monday to announce the winners of the Chalkboard Tumbler giveaway!