How to Make Your Own Decorative Outdoor Flag

Many people enjoy hanging outdoor decorative flags to celebrate different seasons, holidays and events. You can design and make your own to fit with your personal style and your home's exterior look. Here's how to get started.

Determine how large you want your outdoor flag to be. You can make it small enough to hang from a mailbox or on the front door, or large enough to send up a flagpole or hang from a sturdy light pole or flag holder. Your flag doesn't have to be a typical rectangular shape, either. You can make it a triangle, a square or any other shape that you want. Make sure you include at least one flat side that will be used as the flagpole side; this will be the side on which you sew a hemmed opening for the flagpole.

Purchase some outdoor material. Most large fabric stores have a good selection of weatherproof material. Look for something that sheds water and has bright colors for the most eye appeal.

Cut your material into the desired shape or shapes, allowing for an extra 8 inches on the flagpole side. If you're coming up with your own design, cut it out with paper first to be sure it looks right, then use your paper cutouts as patterns as you make the cuts in your material.

Hem the edges of your flag on all four sides. Be sure the hem on your flagpole side is small, around 1 to 2 inches.

Sew the flagpole insert. On the flagpole side of your flag, fold the material over at 4 inches from the hem. Pin the material down and sew along the hem line to create a 4-inch "pocket" the length of the side. This is where you will insert your flagpole.

Decorate your flag. You can sew on patches of outdoor material, add ribbons or stencil words onto the flag.

Insert the flagpole into your flag pole pocket and hang the flag at the desired location.