glittergoods: pink princess party flags

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I'm deep in planning for my daughter's upcoming birthday party, & since I already did the glitter name banner plus I have a whole lot of pink fabric left over from the doll quilt (which is going to get its own post one of these days, once I finish the whole big project) plus there's the whole princess theme that I have to orchestrate, I've made three strings of pink party pennants over the past week. I am a party flag machine.

This is not a difficult project, as probably everyone but me knows, since I am maybe the last person around to make a set. I wanted double-sided (if all goes well weatherwise, we'll be hanging these in the backyard, otherwise I may be using them to cordon off a pen in the living room for seven tiny sparkly sugar-rushed princesses), with pinked edges (while I was googling around about these, I saw a very nice set with bias tape edging, but I wanted fast & dirty), with the minimum of cutting fuss. Here's how I reinvented the party flag wheel:

I made a template (very sophisticated technique = folding a mag subscription card in half, cutting from top corner to bottom middle, then retracing the whole thing 1/2" bigger onto an old manila folder), but because I always, always end up hacking up my templates with my rotary cutter, I cut out my pieces 1/4" larger than the template (sticky tape on the back of the template keeps it from moving around on the fabric).

I stacked the pieces wrong sides together, sewed down one side & up the other with a 1/4" seam allowance. My pieces didn't always exactly match up, but as long as the mismatch stayed under 1/8" I didn't bother with it.

After I sewed the flag together, I put a pinking blade on my rotary cutter & trimmed off 1/8" inch from each of the long sides (marking my 1/8" from the line of stitching).

The first string I made, I did a very careful job of pinning the flags to the bias tape, but quickly realized that I needed to shift things around while sewing anyway, so from then on I just put in a pin or two to keep each flag in reasonable order as I worked my way down the line. If you were doing an easy repeating pattern, I don't think there'd be any need to pin at all, but I'd given myself a slightly complicated repeat (two main fabrics, alternating every 4th flag, with the three flags in between being somewhat randomly chosen except one of the three needed to be one of the predominantly non-pink flags, also I wanted it to look like I just threw it together & it landed perfectly, you know the effect I mean), so pinning was easier than trying to keep a whole bunch of piles organized.

I was planning on a 1/2" wide tape holding the flags together, but I accidentally bought single fold instead of double fold & didn't feel like going back to the store, so 1/4" it is! The tape is folded in half, sandwiching the unsewn short side of the flag, stitched 1/8" from the folded edge. I put my first flag about 12" in from one end, & just tucked each following flag into the tape when I was about 1/2" from the end of the flag before it (this worked better than pinning to keep the flags placed tightly together). After I got all the flags on (last one placed about 12" from the other end of the bias tape), I went back & put the same 1/8" seam in each loose end, after unfolding the tape at the end, folding 1/4" up crosswise (to hide the raw edge), & then folding the tape closed again.

They seem to cause my husband to cast meaningful glances at used car lot flags when we drive past, but I think the tiny princesses are going to love them. Too bad that, as of now, there's only a 40% chance that they'll get to love them out in the backyard.

Comments

These are awesome! The princesses will love them, inside or out.
And you can re-use them for yard sales, used car sales,...

Posted by: Anina | April 26, 2007 at 06:05 PM

Love these! I keep seeing them everywhere and they are always so cute. I like all the pink fabrics you used (says the mom of two boys).

Posted by: sheree | April 26, 2007 at 08:41 PM

love them! and i have yet to make some so thanks for the little tips.

Posted by: erin | April 27, 2007 at 05:42 AM

love the princess flags! i think i'll just have to make some for my little princess!

Posted by: Jenna | April 27, 2007 at 09:21 AM

fabulous.

Posted by: Account Deleted | April 27, 2007 at 04:09 PM

love these! I've seen them before and really want to make some for my three year olds party in July. I guess if I start now, I just might be on time :)

Posted by: kat | May 03, 2007 at 04:07 AM

Your princess will be the queen of the world with all these beautiful tresures you made ! I love them :)

Posted by: Sandrine (alias Didine ♥ ) | May 03, 2007 at 09:42 AM

These are wonderful! I'm really enjoying your sense of humor...I read the piece about the doorstop and it had me giggling. I go through things like that all the time :)

Posted by: Amy | May 25, 2007 at 11:48 AM

What a great idea! I don't have any children, but now I want some so I can make these!

Posted by: Penny | July 05, 2007 at 11:32 AM

That's great....thanks for posting that. I've been wanting to make some...so no you are not the last person to have made some!

Posted by: Gem~(SB) | October 17, 2007 at 12:29 AM

I believe I was probably the last person to make these..haha! I just finished up 7 strands for our daughter's 5th birthday next weekend. Thanks so much for the tutorial! If you want to check them out I put them up on my blog and I gave you all the credit and shout out! Thanks again!!!

Posted by: cat | March 16, 2008 at 05:44 PM

This is just what I've been looking for. Thanks for sharing!
I've been planning on doing something like this for my baby boy (only with more boyish fabrics).

Posted by: Jennifer | April 28, 2008 at 09:12 AM

What a wonderful idea! I will be able to reuse this pretty decoration over and over--I think it may even become and hierloom type decoration that will become part of every family birthday party for years to come! Thank you, thank you!

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