Flag Clippies

One of my favorite parts of summer is Independence Day and all the surrounding festivities. It's one of my favorite holidays.  Every year I forget to buy a patriotic bow to put in my daughter's hair.  Not this year.  This year both my girls will be getting cute flag clippies.  They were fun to make and I think they're pretty adorable.

Supplies:
Red and white striped ribbon (5/8" wide)
Blue polka dot ribbon (5/8" wide)
Silver ribbon (1/2" wide--optional)
Glue gun
Hair clip of choice

I just picked up ribbon when I was out at the store so I have a LOT of extra.  If you can buy it by the inch it's even more economical.  The stuff I bought was Offray brand.  The silver ribbon was leftover from another Fourth of July project and was also Offray ribbon.

Cut the blue ribbon 1-1/2" long.  Make sure to seal the edges with heat or Fray Check. I prefer to heat seal with a lighter.  The edges shrink a little but it feels more secure.

Use the striped ribbon and the dotted ribbon to get an idea of how long you want your flag to be.  I wanted my flag to look like it was flapping in the breeze, hence the fold.  I ended up cutting it four inches wide before I sealed the edges.  Cut two lengths.

Once the ribbon is cut, glue two edges to attach the "stars" to the stripes.  Word to the wise: leave a bit of the bottom edge free of glue for later use.

This part is easily the trickiest.  The two strips of stripe fabric need to be glued together along the bottom.  They can be joined by exactly overlapping the strips or by offsetting it just a touch to make the stripe width more uniform.   The ribbon width was just off just enough to make a great marker for stripe placement.  The picture on the right shows the difference between the stripes.  The flag on the left shows the stripes overlapped exactly and the flag on the right shows them offset a little.

From here you can choose where you want your flag to flutter.  Glue the ribbon onto itself on both sides to secure.  I also left one without the flutter to see if I preferred that.  I cut the ribbon a bit shorter until it was a length I liked better.  I ended up "fluttering" it, anyway.  The difference can be seen in the picture at the top.

To make the flag pole I simply cut 3 inches of ribbon and folded it in half.  Then I sandwiched the flag between the layers.  One trick that worked for me was to glue a dot at the top and at the bottom to help hold it in place while sandwiching the flag.  Glue both sides of the ribbon to hold it down.  Another option for the pole would be to use the reverse side of dotted ribbon and glue that on.

To finish off the bow, glue on your favorite hair clip.  I happened to have a french clip available at the time.  That's what is modeled below.  I can't wait for my girls to wear theirs this summer!  Total cost for the project was under $8.  I'll have enough ribbon to make two for Blue Eyes, one each for Pink Blur and my niece, and I may even make one for myself.