Prayer Flags

In Tibet, people hang prayer flags along trails and high in the mountains traditionally to protect the countryside. The flags are said to promote peace, compassion, strength and wisdom. They are not meant to send prayers to the gods, but supposedly the prayers and mantras are blown by the wind to spread the good will into all the surrounded areas that you hang them near.

I started hanging prayer flags at my house 25 years ago. I had some raucous neighbors and I wanted to find a way to promote tranquility in my life! I have great neighbors now, but I still want to promote peace and tranquility around the neighborhood... I may be a little superstitious, but I do it anyway!

Recently I decided to make my own art prayer flags. With the extra time that I have had on my hands lately, I decided to go through my stash and sew some things together that I just couldn’t bear to throw away, even though they might be too small for an actual quilt!

Do you have any bags filled with

scraps like this? Too big to throw away and not big enough for anything else???

Be honest...

So I sew the pieces together into a long strip. (That is my dog Ruby trying to eat her dinner while we are stretching out the finished LONG piece!)

I made a triangular pattern from an old file folder:

I start at one end and with my handy rotary

cutter…I just flip it over as I go along:

Then, I serged the edges of each flag and I start to decorate them...

I make these artsy patches by printing or painting on bits of fabric. Once again, I just use scraps that I had leftover from other projects.

I just kind of scribble with paint. Doodling... Then I cut the little bits of painted fabric up and I use Stitch Witchery or something similar to adhere the fabric together and then stitch, stitch, stitch…

I like contrasting fabric to stitch it on... But that is just me... I use all different colors of thread. I like to use up the colors I have.

Here is a close up of the raw edge appliqué. they will fray when you hang them outside... and hopefully birds will use bits of the thread to build their nests in the spring.... colorful nests!

Then I do the same things to the flags. Here are some examples

I serge the edges of

the flags.

I zigzag the flags onto ribbon or cord... I have used old rick rack, and that looks really cool! … anything I have a long length of. I try to make them at least 12 feet long total with a few inches in between each flag, and long bit on each end to hang them in the trees.

If you click on any of these pictures you can just scroll thru the images...

I hang them in the yard. I hang them on my deck... I even have some hanging in my kitchen! I am crazy about them. In the last picture, if you look closely you can see in the background some real tibetan prayer flags hanging alongside the arty ones I made.

Try it! Sewing is alot like meditation.

Next I want to sew little bits of fabric together and make a tent! Who wants to help???