Monday, April 16, 2018

AMERICAN FLAG FOR VETERANS

My cousin who is a funeral director came over to my house with this huge flag.  She was wondering if I could fold it.

She wanted a flag to drape over the casket of the Veteran, in which she could use over and over.  The cost of buying a folded one is out of this world.

Then at the gravesite another flag will be laid across the top of the casket and then the ceremony of folding it for the family to have.

The trick was having the red and white on the other side of the blue stars.

We spent over 3 hours pinning this puppy, folding and pleating.



We used every pin I had in the house which is ALOT.

We got poked so many time it became maddening.

We got her pinned and the back was all wonky and would not lay flat.

The middle blue was pulling to one side.  We were on each side pinning and folding that I think we were working against each other.

Finally, enough was enough.  She then asked me if I could just make a quilt out of it.

Hummmmm
Three hours later and extremely tired she left.

I sat and thought.

and thought.....

and thought....

It was around eleven when I finally got up and took all the pins out.

I kept telling her the pins were working against us.

I ironed the flag.

Then I stared from the middle to get the center and worked over to one side.  Fixed the red and white....and then worked on from the middle to the other side.  I got my huge ironing pad and put it on my quilting table and ironed as I went.  The only thing I pinned were the top and where it had an opening.

At one in the morning, I had her ironed with the hope that my cousin would like it.

It stayed on my cutting table for a week.

Which...I thought....

and thought....

and thought.

I tried sewing the inside and the machine just pulled and it looked horrible.

so I thought some more.

The problem was, I could not move on to another project because this was in my mind.

so Friday night.

I cut (yes, cut it) and made the binding for the top and a sleeve.  I had to hand sew the back (no big deal)

Then I thought some more.

Tried sewing again....NOPE>>>>

then I decided to just tack it, just to keep the pleats .....

Yea!!!  it worked.

She will hang this in her funeral home and use as needed.

We love our Veterans, I have five in my house and am so grateful for them.

This is just one thing that will make the funeral more special, even tho it will not be the same flag they will get when the funeral is over, it is still special.


10 comments:

JustCindy said...

You did an outstanding job!

QuiltShopGal said...

Definitely a challenging project but you pulled it off with your creative magic. Looks absolutely beautiful. Very honorable. How wonderful of you to make this. Like Betsy Ross making the first flag. Love it!

Barbara said...

Wow, sounds like this took over your life, day and night. But I’m sure it was worth the effort!

Rhonda said...

Barb, if that's your finished product, it looks fantastic. You need to do a tutorial because that flag looks amazing!!!

Jocelyn said...

Congratulations for following through and finishing. What a special honor to bestow on Veterans. Good job!

Wendy said...

You did a great job on the flag. My dad had a flag at his funeral, but the flag stayed inside the casket next to him until the day of the funeral. Then they placed it on the casket during the service and on the way to graveside where they played taps and a gun salute was given. The last they did was to fold the flag and give it to my mom. And your right, it is a huge flag.

Gene Black said...

That will add a very nice touch to a Veteran's funeral. We all need to remember to thank our Vet's for their service to our country.

Needled Mom said...

It sounds like a real challenge, Barb. It looks really nice and will add such a special touch to a vet's services.

CathyQuilts said...

Wow, that it just beautiful.
But I wonder, does it violate the US flag code? I learned back in the 60s as a member of my Girl Scout troop, that the US Flag should never be 'drawn' up, but allowed to hang freely. Could a knowledgeable family of a service member would be offended?

Robin (RsIslandCrafts) said...

All your hard work and trying to think things through worked because it is a beautiful statement piece that will bring a bit of joy during a tough time.