Woman in Real Life

 


I bought most of the materials needed for the ribbon flag brand new from the store but it would be ideal if you had leftover red and white fabrics and ribbon among your craft supplies.

Materials Needed For DIY Patriotic Ribbon Flag

• plastic or wooden dowel or branch (mine is 16.75")
• twine or string
• red fabric (or fabric that is primarily red with some white)
• white fabric
• red ribbon 
• white ribbon
• red maple leaf - I used a plastic one taken from a dollar store wind chime kit. You could also cut one from fabric or felt.

Ribbon & Fabric Quantities/Costs

I paid $7 plus tax for ribbon and fabric from the dollar store:

• 1 folded rectangle of red & white striped fabric for $2 
• 4 small rolls of ribbon for $1.25 each (1 roll of thin metallic ribbon with gold thread, 3 m/9.8 ft long; 2 rolls of white crochet ribbon, 2 cm x 1.5 m/0.78" x 59" each; 1 roll of white lace ribbon, 3 m/9.8 ft long.)

I also paid $9 plus tax for ribbon and trim from Walmart:

• 1 roll of red & white check ribbon for $4, 22 mm x 2.7 m/7/8" x 9 ft 
• 1 card with various ribbon/trim on it for $5, 5 different types, 2 metres long each.

I also used some natural coloured wider cotton ribbon I already had, in place of a white fabric I purchased at Walmart and plan to return. I used a dowel that we had in the garage. I already had the red plastic maple leaf - I used it previously to top this True North Maple Cake.

Just to give you an idea of how much material you need for this project: when my ribbon flag was finished, I had some of the dollar store fabric and a bit of the trim left but all other ribbon was used up.

Steps To Make A DIY Patriotic Ribbon Flag

Making this patriotic ribbon flag couldn't be easier:

Cut lengths of ribbon and rip lengths of fabric. (I cut various lengths, from 20" to 24".)
Tie the white and natural ribbon to the centre of the dowel or branch, alternating the types used.
Tie the various red ribbon and fabrics to the left and right of the (larger) white area, alternating materials again.


Tie the maple leaf to the centre of the dowel using white thread. The plastic maple leaf from the wind chime kit has a hole in the centre so it was easy to attach. I thought about cutting the maple leaf from felt - it would be easy enough to put a hole through the felt too.


Tie a length of twine or string to the two ends of the dowel (not shown) to hang the ribbon flag from a nail or hook (or maybe outside on a tree branch?) There happened to be two nails holding up a picture in the spot where I wanted to photograph the ribbon flag, so I simply put the dowel over the two nails.


I'm pretty happy with this loose interpretation of our red and white Canadian flag. I think this DIY version has a nice lightness about it. And it was so simple to make! Picking out the fabric and ribbon was the hardest part. (Now you can just copy me if you like.)


Now it's time to mix up a sweet-tasting red cocktail or these family-friendly strawberry no-jitos. Get out and enjoy that sunshine my friends! Because we all know that part of being Canadian is partying hard in the summer to get us through those dark winter months.


What about you - do you celebrate Canada Day? How so? Do you decorate in red and white, don a Canada-friendly t-shirt or just stock up on beer?

Other Ideas To Celebrate Canada Day:

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7 Canada Day Ideas To Make & Create From Canadian Bloggers

Visit my Canadian blogging friends to see some fabulously festive DIY and food ideas for celebrating Canada in style.