It's A Boy! Patriotic Birth Announcement Flag

Our baby was going to be due near the fourth of July. So a theme of red, white and blue emerged when it came to his birth announcement. Especially since we were having a boy. 

I wanted to greet visitors with a seasonal greeting but the added charm of announcing the birth of our son. 

So to create this flag what you will need: 

Yard stick (found at Home Depot, Lowe's)

Chalk Board Pennants (mine came from JoAnn's)

Twine

3/4 yard of fabric in red, white, cream, and Blue with stars

Extra fabric for the top, I used homemade bias tape

Start by tearing the fabric into long strips. Start at the selvage and cut starting points to tear about 1 1/2" inches apart for the white and cream fabrics. For the red I tore at 3"inches apart.  You are tearing the red, white and cream fabrics, NOT the blue. 

I didn't count I just tore up a tone of pieces because I really wasn't sure how many I was going to use. The tearing gives it a real "Rustic Americana" effect. 

I laid the bias tape on the top and held it open with the yardstick so that I could place all of my strips of fabric before I sewed them together. As you can see in the photos I used both cream and white and just one of the red strips. 

Okay, for the blue star fabric...

I really feel bad now, looking back on this project. Really should have done more research beforehand but I was crazy pregnant and it was super hot and I just wanted to get this done before he made his arrival. 

So I don't have the dimensions of the blue fabric. Fabric FAIL! 

Also, I completely put the blue on the wrong side. The CORRECT way to hang a flag is to have the blue on the left side. 

Again, FAIL!! Please don't make the same mistake as I did. Just make sure it is on the left side. 

Okay, back to flag. Once you get all of the fabric placed where you like it, close the bias tape on the fabric and pin all the pieces in place before you stitch it closed with a sewing machine, or if you don't have a sewing machine...the good ol' needle and thread. 

To place on the yardstick, I drilled 4 holes. Two in the center so that I was able to hang it on the door and two at the ends for the chalk board pennants. 

To attach the fabric flag to the yard stick, I just used my hot glue gun. 

Wrote my message with chalk on the pennants, tied them to the yardstick and waddled my way to the front door so that I could hang it up. 

He did arrive earlier than expected but just in time to see the fireworks!! Completely thrilled we had a boy!

Again, my apologies for not having a ton more photos but it was so hot and I was super pregnant. If you have any questions please let me know. 

~ Amanda