Badge without border
3" x 2", finished

Badge with border (gold lamé)
3½" x 2½", finished

Ruth - Arizona
Embroidered star
Rick rack white stripes

And, way down below are some other ideas for making a Flag badge.

Hints for paper piecing the Flag block:

• Use blue fabric with mini stars, if you have some.  You could also machine embroider some white stars on blue fabric and use that for the blue field.  Look at all the stitches that come on your sewing machine.  You might have a star or asterisk that you could use to embroider white stars on blue fabric.
• When placing white patches on top of darker fabrics, scoot white patch down a bit to extend over the darker fabric, just a tad -- won't have "show through" on right side.
• The patches in the Flag block are small.  It might get confusing when sewing the patches. On the paper side of block, with pencil, cross off patch "1" when sewn, cross off "2" when sewn, etc.  That will help to see what has been sewn.
• The stripes in Flag are skinny.  Trim seam allowances to 1/8" to cut down on bulk.
• Use a wooden iron (or half of a spring-type clothespin) to press seam (on right side of block) after sewing -- it gives a sharp seamline.  Press the seam, also.  I used a Clover mini iron for this small block.
• The construction of the Flag was easy and fast.  Took about ½ hour to make the PP block.

Badge without binding
For each badge, you will need:

• American Flag Paper Pieced block, click here
• Red - 6" square (uses 5.25" x 3.75")
• White - 6" square (uses 4.5" x 3.75")
• Blue with stars - 2.5" x 2"
• Backing - 4" x 3"
• Batting - 4" x 3"
• Pinback

Construction of badge without binding:

	Paper piece the block. Click here for printable Paper Pieced block. Trim block. Shown - right side of block, after trimming.
	Sew trimmed block to backing, right sides together, on the outside line of the printed template.  Sew all around. (Block will be turned through a slit in backing)
	Remove paper. On these small pieces, a wooden shish-ka-bob stick really helps when removing paper.  It has a sharp point, but is safer to use than a seam ripper. Trim backing to same size as block.
	Very carefully, make a horizontal slit (about 1½") in backing, just above middle.  Block will be turned through this opening. (I had to draw a black line on the graphic, cuz the opening I made did not show up when block was scanned.) Place block/backing on top of batting, backing side up (it has the opening to turn).  Stitch all around, on top of previous stitching.
	Trim corners. Carefully, trim excess batting very close to stitching.  This will reduce the bulk.
	Turn right side out, through the opening in back.  Poke out the corners with a point turner.  The corners are not going to come out "crisp" because of the bulk.  Do the best you can, no one will notice.  Place a few pins around perimeter as you "work" the backing to the back. SlipStitch opening shut.
	Remove pins. Press, with steam, on right side, working the backing to the back, as best you can.   Using invisible thread, I stitched in the ditch on the right side of the blue field, bottom of first red stripe, bottom of 4th red stripe & under blue field and top of last red stripe.
	Sew, or glue, a pinback to backing, over the slashed area.

Badge with binding
For each badge, you will need:

• American Flag Paper Pieced block, click here
• Red - 6" square (uses 5.25" x 3.75")
• White - 6" square (uses 4.5" x 3.75")
• Blue with stars - 2.5" x 2"
• Backing - 4" x 3"
• Batting - 4" x 3"
• Binding - 1-3/8" wide x 16" (I used gold tissue lamé.  If you choose to use lamé, iron on lightweight fusible interfacing to backside of lamé before cutting binding strip.  The fusible interfacing will make the lamé more stable and less likely to unravel.)
• Pinback

Construction of badge with binding:

	Paper piece the block. Click here for printable Paper Pieced block. Remove paper from block. Layer - Quilt block, batting, backing - Pin in place Cut end of binding at a 45° angle. Fold back end ¼". Start sewing on binding at bottom of block, with fold in binding about 1¼" away from raw edge of block. Sew binding to quilt block, ¼" seam, through all layers, all around, overlapping the end of binding about 3/4" over beginning of binding (fold in binding). Trim off excess batting, backing.
	Turn binding to back of badge, turning under ¼" and then pin to back.  Pin in place, all around. From front of badge, using invisible thread, stitch-in-the-ditch between binding and block. Graphic shows stitching-in-the-ditch complete.
	Graphic shows back of block...and the stitching-in-the-ditch which holds the binding in place. Sew or glue pinback on back.

Ideas:

• Instead of making a Paper Pieced block, use a 4" x 3" rectangle of Red fabric and referring to the Paper Pieced block for guidelines, sew White "baby rick-rack" in the areas of the white patches.  Using the PP block as a guideline, appliqué a Blue field to the rectangle. Trim the rectangle down to 3½" x 2½" and continue on with either of the above directions for making a badge.
• If you have some Red & White striped fabric on hand, use that for the stripes.  You can either appliqué the Blue stars field on by hand or machine, or can piece the Blue stars field in as you would a quilt block.  Be sure to pay attention to the placement of the stripes. You will have to allow for seam allowances in the striped fabric when piecing the flag.
• If you have access to a laminating machine, find an American Flag in one of your Desktop Publishing programs and size it to 3" x 2" (or whatever size you want).  Print it out. Laminate it.  Trim it. Glue pinback to back.