No-sew Bear Scout Den Flag

My mom is a cub scout den leader, specifically for the bears.  Awhile back the scouts decided to update their program.  My mom was reading the new materials, and there was some instruction about displaying the den flag at all den meetings.  Problem:  the den didn't have a flag.  So at the last pack meeting she asked her scouts what they wanted on a den flag.  They came up with a list of things.  They obviously thought there should be at least one bear.  And maybe some trees and grass.  They wanted the dominant colors to be yellow and navy blue, since those are the bear colors.  And one of the boys thought there should be something that was hot pink.  (They all drew sketches on a white board.  Some of them filled the flag with LOTS of stuff...)

After my mom got this list she came to me and asked me to make her a flag.  Being a busy graduate student, I decided that it sounded like a nice way to procrastinate.  But I didn't want to procrastinate too long, so I wanted to avoid pulling out the sewing machine.  Here is what I did.

First, we had to decide how to incorporate what the scouts wanted in a somewhat sophisticated and simple way.  We initially thought we would go with one bear head in the middle, with a couple of pine trees on either side.  So I got on the internet and started looking up clip art (coming up with your own designs takes time.  Unless you are a crazy good artist who can get their drawings right without needing a giant eraser. So use clip art!)

After looking at about 100 websites I found an awesome bear head.  Unfortunately, most of the bear images on google involve teddy bears, or bear heads attached to bear bodies.  We just wanted the head and some claws.  This image was perfect.  Especially for scouts. We decided that the hot pink element could be a fish jumping out of a river, and that we would write the troop number on the fish belly. 

Here is the draft I made in microsoft Publisher. I changed the page size to match the end flag size (28"x24"), and arranged and resized all the clip art until it looked right. Then, rescaling all of the separate components, including the text, by the same amount, I printed them all out on a transparency. I believe I reduced them all to 25% of their original size. In many programs there is a "rescale" option, so you don't even have to do any math.

A few months ago my church building decided that they didn't need their "antiquated" overhead projector anymore, and they put it in the foyer labeled "free". So I claimed it. 

I marked the outline of the flag on the projector glass using a dry erase marker. I rescaled this outline by the same amount as the clipart. Because I reduced everything to 25% of their original sizes, I did the same with the flag outline. Therefore, the rectangle on the glass was only 7x6", a very manageable size to draw. I then moved the projector away from the wall until the outline was 28x24", my target flag size. Since all of the clip art components had been printed at the same scale, I didn't need to move the projector anymore. I just taped felt to the wall and traced each component. Here is a picture of the fish outline. You can see the outline against the wall. I used blue painters tape to stick the felt to the wall, and used a white colored pencil to trace (if you are using light colored felt, a dark colored pencil should be used).

Here is the outline of the bear after I pulled it off the wall:

Since this is a felt flag, and it isn't going to be thrown in the washing machine, you can paint the felt with cheap acrylic paint. If you clearly trace the lines onto the felt, it is very easy to fill in the lines with color. For the bear, I primarily used black for outlining, but around the ears you can see some light brown highlights, and the teeth and claws were white. The tree has a few light green highlights on the top branched. The fish was a little bit different since the details were so fine. I ended up drawing the little eye and fins with a fine tipped sharpie. Note that the felt will soak up some of the paint, so you will have to apply a couple of coats of the lighter colors. After everything is painted and cut out, just hot glue them onto a bigger piece of felt! (Fabrics other than felt can be used, but depending on the fabric the flag will have much more drape. Felt is slightly stiff, so it doesn't fold and distort the awesome designs when it is hung.)

Here is the original clip art bear for reference. I ended up accidentally flipping my transparency backwards, which is why the felt bear is a mirror image of the clip art bear. In this case it turned out just fine, but if exact placement matters in one of your projects, be sure and check before you trace!

The flag is hanging on a stand made out of a few pieces of pvc pipe. There are several tutorials for making such a stand on pinterest. The loops are also made out of hot glue and felt. Later on, my mom added the bottom loops and used a plastic rod for displaying scout awards.

Overall, this was a very quick way to create a flag, without needing any sewing skills. An overhead projector is a great tool for enlargements, and I will post a few more projects where a projector definitely came in handy! (A more modern projector will work as well, but if it is ceiling mounted it will be much harder to get the sizing right.)