Tuesday, June 14, 2011

American Flag Wall Quilt for Flag Day - June 14

Efforts to dedicate a day each year to the American Flag date all the way back to 1861, yet it wasn't until August 3, 1949, that an official Act of Congress, signed by President Harry S. Truman, officially declared June 14 to be Flag Day. During the 88 years between 1861 and 1949, Americans celebrated the American flag at different times of the year.

In an age before the telephone, sending postcards to celebrate special occasions was an inexpensive means of communicating with loved ones. During the Golden Age of Postcards (1898-1915), fine artwork in bright colors was featured on these postcards, many of which celebrated the American Flag. Today, these same postcards are very collectible and highly sought after. In fact, they're so popular that finding original postcards has become an intense hobby.

With no vintage postcards of our own to display, we discovered American Flags Set 1 by Olde America Antiques. We decided that these authentic images of vintage postcards, pre-printed on fabric, were just right for creating a small wall quilt. Olde America Antiques must have thought so too because, to our delight, a wall quilt pattern was included in the fabric packet.

The American Flags wall quilt, shown above, was constructed from a four pack set of images that were printed on 4"x6" panels of soft cotton sateen fabric. Because the company utilizes a new printing process called 8-color giclee, the panels are colorfast when hand washed in cold water. Making this 21" square wall quilt was easy to do, and we soon had our little quilt hanging up in the shop.

If you'd like to make your own American Flags wall quilt from these pre-printed fabric panels, click here. If you'd like to view our other pre-printed fabric panel selections, click here.

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