Sew Obsessed: Mission Flag Quilt

I admit that my talent is not creating original crafty ideas. But, I am very good at copying other people's good ideas. I wanted to make both of my parents a quilt for Christmas this year, and thanks to the brilliant idea from one of my favorite sisters - this quilt came to be.

My Dad served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the Asunción, Paraguay area. My Sister's great idea was to make one side of the quilt the flag from the country where he served. This idea was exactly the suggestion I needed for a quilt for my Dad.

I began by cutting three equal strips of fabric for the front of the quilt. This part was easy, because I just had to sew the three strips together. I then found the emblem that goes in the center of the flag online and put it into a word document. This used some brain power because I had to print off different sizes to see which would look the best. I ended up having to slice it in half and print it on two pages. It didn't turn out perfect, but good enough with the resources I had. I bought some Iron-On Transfer paper from Joann's and printed the emblem. When printing, I had to make sure the emblem was printed in "mirror" format, so when I ironed it on the lettering would be facing the correct way. Then, I cut out the emblem and simply ironed it onto the middle of my "flag".

I wanted the back to have a fun pattern since the front is so plain. I decided to do a herringbone pattern with the blue and white. It's fairly easy to make and when straight line quilting it makes a fun chevron pattern on the front.

I began by cutting out the pieces. I made them pretty big, knowing that I had a decent sized quilt to cover. Each herringbone piece was 5" square plus a 5" diagonal on each side.

I learned a trick that saves time and thread when sewing each piece together. Instead of sewing one piece, stopping, and cutting the threads - you begin piecing, and without stopping, you sew the next piece together etc. The easiest way to sew herringbone is to sew the pieces together top to bottom and then sew the rows together.

This is what it looks like to continue piecing without breaking the thread

Once you have both sides pieced together, flip the back over and tape it taut to the ground. (A surface that is not carpet works best, but I do not have that luxury in my little apartment.) Sandwich the batting with the top and the bottom of the quilt.

Smooth out the top and pin all three pieces together with safety pins.

Now, quilt! I quilted with the herringbone pattern face up. I straight line quilted 1/4" on each side of the seam connecting the white and blue. This created a chevron pattern on the flag side of the quilt. I used an invisible thread on top and depending on if I was sewing in the blue, white, or read stripe I used a coordinating color in my bobbin.