Being away from The Underground
6 months of the year, I haven’t had much to share in the way of crafts. A
friend’s art club is thinking about making prayer flags as a group project.
Having made a number of prayer flags, I offered to share a bit of insight here
on the blog.
I am not an artist, but have been
a crafter as long as I can remember. I ran across an article about the Prayer Flag Project in a Cloth, Paper Scissors’ magazine in 2012. I was hooked.
There is no right or wrong way to make them and, since they are made to hang
outside in the elements, there is no need for perfection. It is an excellent
way to use scraps and to try new techniques.
Below are directions copied from ThePrayer Flag Project website.
Here's Vivika DeNegre's tutorial on
how to make a prayer flag. Feel free to be creative and change them to fit
your own style. The dimensions used here are 5”x 8” dimension with a 3” hanging area (12.5 x 20.5 cm with a
7.5 cm hanging area) as described below. Do sign and date
your flag. Let me know via email that you are “praying along” and include a photograph
of your work or link to a blog so I can post about your flags as well.
Also you can post your flags on our flickr group.
1. Create a place to thread a string by
folding one short end over to the back by 3” and press, making a rectangle
approximately 5”x8”.
2. Choose a theme for your prayer, and
embellish your flag with paper, painting, stitch, embroidery, buttons, etc. You
are only limited by your imagination and your stash. Examples of
flags can be seen on our flickr group.
3. Add words or journaling to your flag
using free motion stitching, hand stitching or simply by writing in a permanent
marker.
4. Sign and date your flag.
6. Hang it outside!
You will notice, nothing is said about
hemming the edges. If you take a look at mine, you will notice most edges are
hemmed.
 |
| Positive Prayer Flags |
I participated in an artist Positive Prayer Flag exchange in 2017, none of the flags I received had hemmed edges, so I no longer hem mine. I wish I could share the beautiful, artistic flags I received, but I am not sure about copy rights and would not want to infringe.
When I am asked to do a workshop, I will take a width of fabric, cut it to an 11-inch length, fold down 3-inches, sew it and then cut into 5-inch widths, making several 5”X 8”-inch flags. Remember these will eventually disintegrate in the elements, so there is no need to back-tack.
As for fabric, I use whatever I have on hand.
I really like using Everbilt drop cloth from
Home Depot.It takes stenciling really well and the thread pulls easily for a
fringe.
And it is inexpensive! (I use drop cloth in a
lot of my crafts. It is a good idea to wash the cloth first.)
Pinterest and Instagram are excellent places to find inspiration.
Click here to see some of my flags.
I hope the art club has a fun evening making
Prayer Flags.
As for me, I will be living in a 200 square
foot RV for the next few months. I have colored pencils, my Featherweight (aka
Miss Wilma) and a bit of fabric with me. Maybe I will create something to blog
about.
