How to Make Drill Team Flags

It's hard to miss them at parades and on sporting fields -- teams of marchers waving huge, colorful flags while undertaking a variety of moves and staying in picture-perfect formation. If your drill team needs flags and you don't have the budget to have them professionally made, take advantage of your school's wealth of talent. Invite everyone at your school to get in on the act by helping to make flags for your drill team.

Things You'll Need

  • Flag design
  • Computer
  • Software
  • Poster board
  • Fabric
  • Scissors
  • Sewing machines
  • Thread
  • Liquid binding solution
  • Scotchgard
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Instructions

    • 1

      Design your drill team flag. Use your school colors, mascot, emblems and other symbols as reference material for your flag. Hold a schoolwide competition. Ask students to submit designs that meet the flag's size, color and symbol requirements. Gather a panel of judges -- principal, booster club president, head cheerleader and others -- to evaluate designs and pick a winner.

    • 2

      Turn the winning design over to students in drawing, drafting, desktop design and similar computer design classes that employ programs such as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw and Microsoft Paint. Direct students to the Microsoft Paint tutorial for directions on how to design a drill team flag if they need assistance. Use the line, box and pencil tools to replicate the original drawing, and drop in colors using the paint bucket. Once the file is complete, enlarge the dimensions to make a pattern from poster board or art stencil plastic.

    • 3

      Assign math classes the responsibility of calculating the amount of fabric you'll need to sew the drill team flags. Use these measurements as a point of reference: a 30-by-44-inch flag works with a 5-foot pole, a 35-by-52-inch flag is appropriate for a 6-foot pole and a 41-by-60-inch flag is ideal for a 7-foot pole. Once the calculations have been made, order sturdy, weather-resistant canvas, industrial-strength nylon or polyester china silk in the colors you'll need.

    • 4

      Cut out the pieces for one flag only and hand them over to a sample maker with the drawing of the finished flag. Once you determine there are no problems with the scale, cut and colors, give your sewing squad the go-ahead to make the rest of the flags.

    • 5

      Use quality control for the process. Flags last longer if they're sewn using a zigzag stitch; but double stitching will also create tight seams, so that can be used as an alternative. Attach grommets or ties to the sides of the flags so they can be connected to the poles. Apply liquid binding solution to the seams (Fray Block is one brand, but there are others on the market), and spray the flags with Scotchgard for additional protection.