How to Make Easy Patriotic Art with Fabric Scraps
Learn how to make your own lovely patriotic art with upcycled materials and fabric. Perfect for celebrating the fourth of July, or anytime!
I have been back in the USA for almost a year and yet I have not done a patriotic project. Oh I have a flag or two in the house. But with the Fourth of July coming up I felt it was time to create some unique patriotic art for us to enjoy.
DIY Patriotic Art Idea
Today I am sharing with you how to make easy patriotic art with fabric scraps. Because the flag looks great outside, but we shouldn’t neglect the interior of our homes.
I wanted to make a special flag of my own but with a twist. I thought I’d re-purpose the item you see below. It was a shelf from an old fridge we had. You can use anything with holes in it if you don’t have leftover refrigerator parts.
What I Used to Make this 4th of July Decor:
- wire rack left over from fridge
- various fabric pieces cut into strips
- needle and thread
- hot glue (optional)
It is also good if you have a little helper. Tatou settled into the fabric, to help smooth it out.
How to Make this Upcycled Patriotic Art:
This was a super easy project to do, although it was a bit tedious. In fact you can even watch TV while working on this project. This time I watched Grand Designs about people who like to torture themselves by trying to build the perfect home on an inadequate budget.
I just folded the strips any which way and then weaved them through the wire, like you see below. I then tucked the loose ends behind the wire. Or you can also hot glue them behind.
Looks good right?
Actually I made a horrible mistake (I guess those perfect houses really went over the budget) and added all that white where there should have been blue.
At this point I thought I could either do the whole thing in blue and then add bits of white for the stars. Or I could cheat and use one of these fabrics which contain both colors.
I got my daughter to decide for me, the one of the love for all things blue…
…and she chose the stripe. I wove it in such a way, so the white parts would not be in the same position across.
This way it looks like there are random white spots. You know, a bit like the fifty stars.
Oh I know it’s not perfect but art is not mean to be either!
There is another mistake, can you spot it?
I may have the right number of stripes but the bottom full stripes should have been two less. Oh well, turns out that TV show was way too good to stop in order to count the stripes.
Anyway, if you don’t mind, then I won’t tell!
For my non-American friends, the flag has 13 stripes which represent the 13 colonies that declared independence from England, and the 50 stars represent the 50 states.
I’ve got it on the wall now and every time I glance at it I stop! It looks like a Pop Art sort of piece. It sort of reminds me of Andy Warhol’s soup cans… it must be that bright red color!
It really does look good next to the white chair!
All in all, I recommend not watching such a riveting show like the one I was watching while making your upcycled patriotic art. Less mistakes for you and more art for everyone to see. Now I’m off to see the rest of the episodes, this time with no craft project in hand!
I hope you have enjoyed my easy patriotic art with fabric scraps. Do you decorate the inside of your home for the Fourth of July or just the outside?
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what a fantastic project!! Love it!! Thanks for sharing and thanks for the inspiration!!
Hugs,
Deb
Thank you so much Debbie, I know your home is all decked out in the red white and blue!
That’s such a clever repurpose idea Mary. Only you would see a flag in a refrigerator rack. Love how it turned out
I am now wondering what I was doing with a spare refrigerator rack in the first place! 😉
Very clever, Mary! And loads of fun!
Jeanie I had loads of fun making it, especially since I wasn’t paying attention.
Mary you are so creative! This turned out great and I had NO idea that it was a refrigerator shelf!
🙂 gwingal
Hah! I fooled you! I had to get rid of that thing!
I love this idea. It looks so easy to make and I love the shabby chic look! Thanks for sharing at the Make Life Pretty Monday link party!
Thank you Kate, it was a fun project.
What a smart idea! I love how your flag turned out and it’s a beautiful piece of decor perfect for 4th of July! Thanks for sharing your tutorial with us at Merry Monday this week!
I am all ready to celebrate Marie!
Beautiful idea for the upcoming 4th of July and for every patriotic holiday in the future, Mary!!! Love love love this! Okay, pinned, going to put on my Facebook because this is sooo cute!
Great project,
Hugs,
Barb 🙂
Thank you so much Barb! I am already to celebrate, bring on the barbecue grill!
How clever, Mary! I don’t craft too much any more, but this is an idea even I could enjoy. Thanks for sharing at What’d You Do This Weekend? You will be a feature next Monday!
Wishes for tasty dishes,
Linda
Thank you so much for the feature Linda.
A fantastic piece of art using just an old refrigerator shelf! I’m impressed! This is quite clever Mary! And the blue woven in looks great too. You know, since it’s “Art,” you don’t need to worry about whether it has enough stars or not, LOL.
Florence, the states will feel cheated if I don’t have all of them on there. :O
Mary…this turned out so adorable! It is so funny, because I actually have some of these extra fridge shelves cluttering up my garage. You are so clever, my friend!
Now you too can have your own Pop Refrigerator Art Erica! 😉
This is the most creative idea! I’m going to have to keep my eye out for an old refrigerator rack 🙂
I hope you find one. If not a wire grid will also do the trick.
Mary, that is the most creative flag I’ve seen yet! Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm–pinned!
Thank you so much Cecilia.
You constantly amaze me with what you think of for what most of us think of as junk!
I can’t think of anyone else who would see an old rack like this and think “I know what I’ll do with that. I’ll make a flag!”
Amazing!
It must be my absentmindedness when I am watching all your great shows on the Telly! 😉
I think it turned out perfectly! I love the shabby look of it while still holding onto the feel of the flag. It feels sort of like a rag rug. And, I love that your materials were all upcycled! Great job!
Thank you so much. I am always looking to upcycle things I have around the house. I got lucky with this one.
Wow! I just LOVE this project! When I first saw the blue portion in one of the first photos I thought “how clever of her to use a blue and white fabric to mimic the stars on a blue field”. I like to refer to those rare moments in my crafting as “I meant to do that” or a “happy accident”.
Miss Kitty it was no accident. I may have made many accidents along the way like the stripes but this one was calculated to look like the stars. I even pulled the stripes so they would not line up where the white parts were. Thank you for your sweet comment.
Love this flag, Mary!
I can’t see anything wrong with the stripes ~ there are 13 and the reds are in the right spots. 🙂 This would be a fun project to do with kids in a classroom or at home, too.
Happy summer,
Barb 🙂
Thank you Barbara! I was worried I got them wrong.
I love Patriotic projects and this is so cool and very clever way of repurposing and old refrigerator rack. ❤
I am so glad I got to reuse that old thing.
You really do have a knack for making something out of nothing! I have some long wire shelves– so if I don’t reuse them in the shed, maybe I will turn them into art! Thanks for the idea! And thanks for sharing at Best of the Weekend. I’ll be featuring you tomorrow.k
Liberty @ B4andAfters.com
Thank you Liberty. I am glad I was able to inspire you.