My second project was a 2nd year anniversary gift for my cousin and her husband – the cotton anniversary, y’know. They’ve got nice little reproductions of the Declaration of Independence and a couple other important US documents hanging up, so I thought a little patchwork Betsy Ross flag might be a nice addition.
Again I didn’t use a pattern, just decided about how big I wanted it to be and figured out how big my blocks should be based on that. In this case I obviously knew how many rows it would have to be, so it was just figuring out block size and then how many blocks wide it should be.
I chose 4 prints in each color so I could give it a pleasantly random look.
Laid them all out so each print was spread out. I didn’t want clumping.
Sewed the squares into rows and then sewed the rows together.
This mini doesn’t have a binding. Since it’s supposed to be a flag I didn’t want it to have a border like that. I finished it using the envelope method, which I had used before when making bodices. Put it right sides together with the backing, sew most of the way around, then flip it right side out through the bit that isn’t sewn. Ladder stitch the last bit shut, then press everything neatly. It was quilted with just basic horizontal lines going through the stripes (mostly just to keep it flat, I was more interested in the patchwork element) and then I sewed star buttons on to the canton.
