Fireworks, parades, candy, and celebrations are coming to shout praises and celebrate this incredible country that we call home, and it’s birthday! I love the 4th of July! It is one of my favorite holidays. I love walking through the stores and seeing a sea of red, white and blue and to see our streets and communities proudly waving our flag. To kick off this patriotic holiday, Carolina from Always Expect Moore is sharing an adorable Ribbon Flag Pillow that is adorable! Enjoy!
Hi there! I’m so excited to share this patriotic ribbon pillow with you today! This flag pillow is made using ribbons, and fun star-shaped ribbon embellishments, and has great sparkle! I’m going to love adding it to my patriotic decor this summer, and hope you will too!
To make the pillow, you’ll need some basic sewing supplies, and a sewing machine that does a simple straight stitch. You don’t need any fancy sewing techniques (I promise!). Here are the supplies you’ll need:
1 Fat Quarter of a white fabric for the front (I used “Shades Snow”)
1 Fat Quarter of patriotic fabric for the back (I used “Maverick Grey Star”)
5 yards Shimmer Satin Ribbon 7/8″ in Red/Gold
5 Shimmer Satin Ribbon in Electric Blue/Silver
25 Star Shaped Ribbon Slides
Roll of fusible hem tape
Cut your white fat quarter to size – 14″ x 18″
Next cut your ribbons. You’ll need to cut the following: THREE pieces of red, each 18″ long, FOUR pieces of red, each 11″ long, and SEVEN pieces of blue, each 12″ long.
Mark down the sides of your fabric. Make a mark 1/2″ from the top, and then every 1″, all the way down. Your last mark should be 1/2″ from the bottom. Do this on both the right and the left edges.
On the left side, you’ll want to mark in the area for your blue. Make several marks 1/2″ in (this will be your seam allowance mark, and help you space your stars), and another set of marks 7 1/2″ from the left side.
You’ll want to secure your red strips in place. You can stitch them down, or use fusible hem tape to hold them in place. I liked the hem tape option because stitching on satin ribbon can pucker the ribbon.
Cut your hem tape into 16″ strips for the long red ribbons, and 9″ long for the short red ribbons. Place between every other set of marks. On the American flag, both the top and bottom stripes are red. Just place the hem tape for now – don’t iron it yet!
Place a piece of ribbon on each strip of hem tape, and iron down. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions on the pattern for temperature and time.
Time to add stars! Thread the stars onto your 12″ lengths of blue ribbon.
I found that the easiest way to do this was to fold the ribbon into thirds, then thread through the star shaped ribbon slide. Before you add them all, notice that there is a front and a back that look slightly different. Decide which side you want showing, so that they all look the same.
Keep adding the stars – you’ll want 4 strips with 4 stars each, and 3 strips with 3 stars each. Space the stars 1 1/2″ apart.
This takes a little time, especially getting them all spaced right, but they look so pretty when finished!
Pin down the blue ribbon. You’ll notice in the photo that neither the blue ribbon nor the white fabric looks flat, This is because the stars pull the ribbon up from the fabric. Make sure to hold the ribbon down while pinning to make sure everything is flat.
With your sewing machine, stitch down the blue ribbons. On the right side, stitch down at your 7 1/2″ marks that you made earlier. On the right side, stitch 1/4″ from the side.
Make your backing however you like. You can add a zippered back, or an envelope back. I made a simple envelope back with a 14″ x 17″ piece of fabric, and a 14″ x 5″ piece of fabric. On the 14″ side of each, I folded the edge over about 1/2″, then a second time, and stitched down to create a finished edge. I laid these two pieces right side down on the front of the pillow, which is right side up.
Pin the backing on, all the way around. You can leave the ribbon ends as is, and stitch them down. I moved them out of the way as I pinned them so that I could trim them later for a fun fringed effect.
Stitch the back on, sewing all the way around using a 1/2″ seam allowance.
Clip the corners, then turn your pillow right-side out. Trim your ribbon ends by clipping a v-shape on any raw edges.
I love the ribbon ends on the blue!
This pillow was fun to make, and adds so much patriotic flair! I hope you’ll enjoy making your own patriotic ribbon flag pillow!
Can you feel the patriotism in the air already? This pillow is so simple to make and will be so fun to display and add to our 4th of July decor. Thank you Carolina for sharing this great patriotic project with us! Make sure to see more of Carolina’s fun DIY projects, recipes, quilts and more at Always Expect More.
From now until July 4th, we will be swimming in red, white and blue patriotic projects! It is going to be a true celebration of hair bows, wreaths and so much more! Check out these other fabulous 4th of July projects that are full of American pride…
4th of July Ruffle Onesie Dress
What is your favorite 4th of July project?
Happy Creating & Happy Patriotic Flag Pillows!
2 Comments
I bet those stars are pretty uncomfortable and catch on everything.
Hi Lumi! Hehehe! You are so right! I agree they would be so uncomfortable to lay on, in which case I think this fun pillow would work best as a decor or statement pillow rather than a napping pillow for sure. Thank you Lumi and have a wonderful rest of your day! Michelle 🙂