American Flag Placemat Tutorial

Use this step-by-step sewing tutorial to create an American flag placemat for a patriotic centerpiece or make many for dinner guests on Independence Day. Start with store-bought American flags (the kind you wave around at parades) for this easy decorating idea. This 4th of July craft from Shannon Staker of Shannon Makes Stuff is great for outdoor barbecues and picnics. As Shannon suggests, pair these placemats with a vase of red, white and blue flowers (real or paper).

Materials:

• Red, White, and Blue Thread
• One American Flag for each placemat
• Thinest vinyl you can purchase

Steps:

1-Remove flag from stick by pulling. Lay your flag out flat and cut up the side with the stars so it is even and pretty close to the stars. Like a regular american flag.

2-Cut two pieces of vinyl that are 1/2 inch larger than the flag on all sides. Sandwich american flag inbetween the vinyl sheets. Leave the paper on the vinyl. So you will have paper, vinyl, flag, vinyl, paper.

3-Start by sewing with white thread around the blue part of the flag with a straight stitch. You leave the paper on because the vinyl tends to stick to the machine and then you get uneven sewing and bunching. Sew on the bottom of each red stripe, except the bottom stripe.

4-Cut of all the excess white thread on both the front and back of flag.

5-Change to red thread and sew in a zigzag stitch on the top of all the red stripes, except for the top stripe.

6-Cut off all of the excess red thread on the front and back of the flag.

7-Sew around the entire outside of the flag in red thread in a straight stitch. You do not want to sew on the flag you want to sew next to the flag about 1/8 inch off the flag. Cut of excess red thread.

8-Change to blue thread and sew diagonal lines across the stars. Cut off excess blue thread.

9-Tear off the top paper. Be gentle so you don't pull out the thread.

10-Flip over and tear off the paper on the bottom side. I like to use a pin and slide it underneath the paper to help me lift it up, but be careful not to puncture the vinyl.

11-Cut around the red sewn line to get rid of any extra vinyl. Be careful not to cut the red stitching.

12-Turn flag over and there you have it. An american flag placemat. Perfect for a centerpiece with white, red and blue carnations, or great for any outdoor picnic barbeque on the 4th!