How To Make a Fabric Union Jack

How To Make a Fabric Union Jack

The nursery, strangely enough, has been a hard room to decorate. There is something about getting a space ready for two people you haven’t met that leaves me a bit bewildered and wanting to stall. Robert and I have set up the basics, the cot beds, drawers, clothing, muslin’s etc… but in terms of personalizing it I am waiting until they are here to really get cracking on that.

However, one thing I knew I wanted in this room was a fabric Union Jack. I love the Union Jack because there can be so many variations on its themes in terms of colours used. It doesn’t have to be red, white & blue. And although, strictly speaking, this is not an exact copy of the flag it is still clear what it is and we have been asked about it a lot since it first appeared in the pictures from my Baby Shower.

So, without further ado here is how you can make one for yourself. ….

This framed fabric Union Jack is a great way of creating your own art, all you need are some fabric remnants, an iron, a picture frame with a card border on the inside of the frame and hey presto you have your very own piece of (patriotic) art. I wanted a piece that I could proudly hang in my twins nursery so my colour scheme for the flag was quite mellow using pinks, blues, whites and greens.

Note: I used a picture of the Union Jack as a guide for making my flag and it is good idea to have the picture on hand throughout the process to refer to.

Note: Your flag size will depend on the size of your frame/border so you will need to measure out your fabric pieces accordingly to fit the frame.

Use the card border that comes with your frame to construct your flag.
I used some masking tape at each corner to stick the background fabric to the card.
Before finally cutting the piece of fabric that will make the background of your flag ensure that it is slightly bigger than the inside measurements of the border.

Once you have the background piece of your flag in place, begin work on the strips of fabric that will bring the flag to life.
Decide what fabric will make up what part of the flag
Each piece of fabric will have to be made into a strip so cut them all to size, fold over so that each strip is double in thickness…

… and iron them for a neater and crisper finish.

I would advise using spray starch when ironing your strips as this enables the fabric to hold its shape and makes it easier to put the pieces in to place on the flag.

The key to this flag looking great is how the strips of fabric lay on top and across each other. Flat, flush and neat.
Here are my pink and white strips.

And here are my green and white strips.

Once all of my fabric strips were neatly cut, folded and ironed I started constructing the flag

By laying the fabric strips…

piece…

by…

piece…

in to place.

The flag was then placed securely in to the frame – use masking tape if you feel the need to stick it down – and it was hung up above one of the cot beds……

There it is. On the wall above Boy Meatball’s bed. The nursery is so bright and lovely that I’m carefully considering what I put on the walls and around the room as I like the sense of space it has right now.

Baby ‘stuff’ is so lovely nowadays and so different to how it all was when I was a baby. Maternity wear can be considered high fashion when certain designers get their paws in to it and I know for a fact that the industry itself is growing and growing. But there are occasions when you don’t have to part with your hard earned cash and give it to somebody who has created something very simple but really rather nice. You can simply make your own. That is what I have done with this flag and it looks just as good as anything I’ve seen in the stores, which I believe is a huge point of this hand-made revolution. No one wants anything sub-standard, whether it’s made by hand or not.

Do have a go at making this if the mood takes you. Choose your own colours, size and frame and hang it wherever you like. I’ve always thought it might look rather fetching hung over my roll top bath. Who knows, I may make another, it was so easy after all!

Lots of love and stuff,
Cherry oxoxox