sumarben

Wanting to machine embroider on sunbrella fabric for a garden flag. Planning on using cutaway stabilizer and rustoleum never wet spray on embroidery. Also going to join it to another layer of plain sunbrella for the back. Any other suggestions are more than welcome. It will be outside from May to Nov.

Barb in Louisiana

Haven't ever made one of these. Will be looking forward to seeing what others recommend.

toverly

I've been wanting to do this too. With the high price of outdoor decorative flags, it seems a perfect way to be creative. The only way I have seen was in a craft show with a company that made the banner flags that wave like a feather. They used kite material and a hot knife to cut it. That sealed the edges. Then they used a black zig zag stitch to bind the edges together. At least that was all I could get out of the guy who made them. I am interested to see of other ideas too. Your idea of embroidery would be great.

Feather3

I made some flags for a motorcycle club. I used rip-stop nylon to embroider the designs on. Sewed 2 flags together & added the pole sleeve. I made binding from rip-stop nylon & bound the other 3 edges. That was back in 2008. They are still using them. Seams were 1/2 inch & I double stitched the binding & did a X/box stitch on the corners. If using Sunbrella I think you need to cut it with a hot knife.

donna13350

I would first embroider something and lay it in the sun to see if the colors fade. It would be a shame to do all of that work, only to have it all bleach out in a couple of weeks.

Rhonda K

This sounds like a fun project! I agree to use the cut a way stabilizer for the fabric. You may want to try the spray solution on a piece of scrap fabric first to make sure it doesn't change the color of the fabric.

How dense is the EMB design?

I am starting a project to EMB on duck cloth and confirmed with the LQS to use cut-away for the stabilizer Generally, I use a microtex needle for machine EMB. I will also use a topping so the stitches don't sink into the fabric.

Scroll down on this 101 How-to page for outdoor fabrics. I included the whole page as there is great info on other fabrics too. Hope that helps!

https://www.emblibrary.com/EL/ELProj...ory=Fabrics101

Looking forward to seeing your progress! Great idea!

sumarben

Update: Here is my finished flag. I decided to use the fabric used for outdoor sling chairs. I merged several designs, used 2 layers of fabric type WSS on the back, used repositional hoop for 1st time, sewed it to another layer of same fabric to cover the stitches. It will hang beside my son's headstone because he would always camp/sleep under the stars if given a choice. It was challenging, fun, and sad all at the same time![ATTACH=CONFIG]612510[/ATTACH]

Crqltr

. Your flag turned out beautiful! Wonderful tribute to your son.

Rhonda K

Thanks for the update on the flag project and sharing your tips. It is a perfect design and reflection of your son.

toogie

I'm sorry about your son.

This flag and its meaning are perfect. Beautiful job