AEDM Day 13- What I'm Working On Today-Prayer Flags

Sorry about the picture quality, but this is what I'm working on today. I decided to switch up and do something a little different today. These are practice runs for prayer flags, which I learned about from Jane LaFazio on her blog Janeville a while back. She participated in the Prayer Flag Project and she also has a tutorial on her blog.

The blue ones are cut from the sleeves of an old oxford cloth shirt, and I practiced different machine stitching on the edges, then left them for a while. The purple thread was already on the machine, so I just left it, because I didn't want to change it, and these were practice pieces, so, there you are! I can be slightly lazy. :/

Today I found some purple velveteen fabric and cut a strip, and I also cut a butterfly out of a purple batik like print. I tried laying them different ways til I found one that I could live with. Basically, I sat down at my workspace and used whatever what was in arm's reach. My needle was too big, but I used it and yellow crochet thread anyway to hand stitch the velveteen and the butterfly down. It's been a long time since I did any hand stitching, so I'm waaaaaay out of practice, but I didn't worry about the stitching changing during mid butterfly or being crooked or inconsistant. I just had fun with it. There will be word/words and some more embellishing. The other flag has a strip of purple knit with bronze like buttons on it laying on it for now. I'm just trying it out.

The white flag was cut this morning from an old embroidered scarf that I got in a basket full of stuff at a yard sale a few years ago. I used part of the scarf for a book binding. I've often wondered about the lady who did the work and her story. Anyway I'm living with the flag til I find the right embellishments for now.

Jane has the purpose of the flags on her blog, but the gist of it is that you embelllish them and write or stitch names or words as a prayer on them, hang them with a heavy thread, ribbon, etc outside, and when the breeze touches the flags it will carry the prayer with it wherever it goes. Isn't that a lovely thought?

These started out in size as 11x8 inches and when you fold 3 inches over for the hanger to go through, the flag is 5x8 inches. Mine are very much a work in progress and practice pieces right now. If you want to see some awesome flags go to the links at the beginning of the post. You will see how the flags are really supposed to look and different ways they're used.

Anyway, I have lots of ideas for embellishing more flags, and hopefully I'll do a better job. Just wanted to share what's in my workspace today. :)