Earth is Our Home Prayer Flag

Home & Garden Completed Projects
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Made for the lovely @Ewulotta in the Prayer Flag Swap! She listed “Earth (is our home)” as one of her themes and I instantly knew what I wanted to make for her.

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I started with an embroidered outline of the Earth (oriented so the US is NOT the center of attention since my partner lives in Germany) and filled it in with teeny tiny scraps of blue and green fabric. I was inspired by some of the ticker tape quilts I’ve seen @sheepBlue create.

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I then reverse-appliqued the Earth against black polka-dot fabric, reminiscent of the “pale blue dot.” I added some white french knots for stars and wrote the word “Home” constellation-style.

The Earth actually has a little bit of a 3-D effect. I didn’t mean for that to happen, I think it’s a result of my imperfect reverse applique, but when I noticed it, I put an extra piece of felt behind the Earth before backing. So, yeah, I meant it was totally intentional. :laughing:

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So glad to be swapping again and what a great one to start with! :star_struck:

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That is so flippin’ awesome, dang!

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I love it so much :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:! You’re such an artist!

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You’re the sweetest! I’m glad you like it! :smiley:

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This is so cool! Love hearing about your creative process so much :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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LOOK AT ALL THE WEE EARTH EMBROIDERY!!! Multiple rings around. and the blanket stitched edging! woot!

lurve it. and i see those french knots!

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So many new things! Reverse applique, puffy earth, lots of stitching…nice fringing…you do a little of a lot of things and it turned out so good!

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This is very cool! I love all the details on the applique especially.

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That’s totally by machine. :shushing_face:

Thanks for the kind words all! :smiley:

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Absolutely stunning my friend. Lovingly stitched and beautifully designed.

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Congrats! Your prayer flag is one of this week’s featured projects.

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Wow! Thank you! :smiley:

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Soooo clever making the word HOME out of stars! I love the whole design! :slight_smile:

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This is so great!

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OMGoodness! You could have appliqued an earth patch or a pre-made applique but you did the painstaking and beautiful work of hand-embroidering in the tiny pieces to create the bodies of land and waters. I like the 2-D, stuffed applique effect too.

Black polka dot navy fabric for the sky was so clever! You got your French knot practice in, didn’t you? I like making them. One day they all will come out perfect as I continue practicing.

And the word HOME as a constellation is just too sweet for words! :smiling_face_with_tear: The fibers fringe reminds me of clouds.

What is reverse applique?

When you said you stuffed the applique before backing, did you mean you backed the applique or backed the entire flag?

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Um. I made this so long ago I don’t remember what I did! :sweat_smile: I think I put felt behind just the earth. The whole flag is backed with fabric (I think).

Reverse appliqué is when you cut out a shape or pattern on a top fabric to reveal fabric layered underneath (as opposed to stitching directly on top patch-like). Not sure that makes sense?

Thank you for your kind words!

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Yes, it makes sense. I’d heard of it before but couldn’t remember what it is. Don’t know why it’s not called revealed applique though. :blush: Yes, I think a totally finished flag back is more neat and professional.

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