Posted on 34 Comments

How-To Make Swing Flags

Those of you who know me know I’m not a big fan of sewing, so I’m always happy to share the how-to info and you are welcome to simply special order the yardage from me (or use regular fabric if you want). 

If you haven’t watched the swing flag intro, you may find it helpful so you can conceptually understand what we’re going for. What’s beautiful about swing flags is there is no sticks and the weight is distributed (unlike the voi), which makes less likely to hurt someone.  I never like to say it’s IMPOSSIBLE to injure yourself or someone, but let’s just say *I* haven’t found a way to hurt anyone with one of these.

Basically they work by grabbing one of the longer sides in the middle and allowing the lead corner (weighted corner) to lead the flow of silk as you move.  Flows beautifully!

You’ll notice the outer dimensions on the diagrams below change as you fold and sew.

What you’ll need

Step 1

Cut a piece of silk approximately 36″x49″

Step 2

Iron the fabric in place (so you don’t have to pin it before you sew)

Step 3

Sew edge in place on the two sides that won’t have the weight. (FYI – the corner with the weight is called the “lead corner”)

Step 4

Position weighting

Step 5

Fold and sew a pocket around the weight and then secure it

Step 6

Worship and enjoy!

NOTE: If you order dyed yardage from us to create your swing flags, you will receive the silk to do a pair still in one piece (not two pieces).  Cutting can be a pain and a neat trick about the silk we use is it tears straight. If you choose to tear it, you’re doing so at your own risk, but we wanted to help position you for success by showing you how-to rip silk πŸ˜‰

Note for those wanting to use different fabric than what I’ve mentioned in the instructions: you will need to adjust the weight based on the weight of your fabric.  It is VERY important to have your swing flag properly weighted (too heavy flows too fast, to light and it will drag). Though there is some grace in weighting, if it is off by too much it will distract you during worship, which is NOT what you want!  So I suggest experimenting until you get it right (which is what we did and what is shared in the info above). Happy worshiping!

View Swing Flags

34 thoughts on “How-To Make Swing Flags

  1. Thank you Meghan πŸ™‚

  2. Thanks this is awesome to know how to do!!!

  3. Whoa awesome! Thank God other people have the gift of sewing hahaha, I have the gift of pricking my fingers. Thanks and God bless you Meghan for sharing this!

  4. Thank you so much!!!! This is such a blessing…

  5. Thank you so much for being willing to share your techniques (and making it look so easy!) Bless you and your ministry!!

  6. Thank you, Meghan!! I think I can do this! πŸ˜‰ Yay!!!

  7. Meghan, in the 6th picture down, it looks as tho’ the lead corner has a “double” strand of the weight. Would you please confirm that. Thank you, Denise

  8. @Denise – It absolutely does. Two yards of the weighted string folded in half. So a yard of 2 strands πŸ™‚

  9. Meghan, I cannot say thank you enough for this “How To”!! It is so giving and so precise and such a blessing. It is very clear that your love for God prevails in your life. I made a very simple cheap poor-girl-on-a-budget version of your scarf and the only way I would be happier is if I had the money to buy your silk swing flags myself. But I am going to save up the money to do it because these are beautiful and the dances done with them are just captivating. Again, thank you for your generosity of spirit.

  10. found you on you tube and love your swing flag have never seen one before so i got to try it. All my flags have sticks and we have very low ceilings in our church. Thyanks a bunch

  11. I believe God gave me the new hobbie that I’m very passionate about; which is sewing. I really wanted to learn how to make these, and since I’m a beginner, this seems pretty easy to do. Get ready, everybody and pray for me; I’M GOING IN! πŸ˜€

  12. I just bought some fabric, and I’m ready to go!!!! πŸ˜€ So EXCITED

  13. Thank you so much wow very cool……. love it so much…I’m gonna try this <3 while worshiping with flags in our church sometimes with two people since very little room , we tend to bang dowels hahaha….& yes people tend to get in the way , & get hit LOL But it's amazing worship, I usually fall on the floor with Holy Spirit Laughter & then I can't stop & just wanna lie there & soak <3 Flag worship is amazing. & I'm going to have fun making these <3 Thank you Dyed4you <3

  14. Where I can get the weighted string or drapery weight? In a fabric store?

    1. There’s a link in the blog post of where you can purchase it πŸ™‚

  15. thanks for the instructions one down one to go. Been wanting to make some for a while thanks again and GOD bless
    no web but I sale poi and poi flags now I can make some of these and see how it goes
    love spinning to Yanni

  16. Thanks for this!!!!! I’m just learning to sew, but…. I did have to tear some silk and this video made the panic attack much much less hahahahaha

  17. I’ve never seen street crossing flags before, either. Awesome idea, though! I’d love to see something like that spread throughout all the states. Thanks!

  18. Hello:) your videos and site rocks!
    I’m trying to make my own swing flags and I’m a little confused. Does the string go half way down two sides meeting in the corner ?

    Thank you kindly
    Jenny

    1. Jenny, the string should be folded in half and then yes a portion of the folded string is on 2 sides and a corner. It’s difficult to explain but hopefully between this clarification and the diagrams you’ll get it worked out!

  19. How kind of you to share this information. You are truly Kingdom minded.

  20. Thank you for sharing how to make different kind of worship flags, where to get some of the supplies and how to use the flags. I love to worship with flags, God takes me places and speaks to me when I worship. One day I would love to purchase some of your silk flags, they are beautiful but until I can I need to try to sew my own flags. I current gulag with wooden dowel flags and they are getting to heavy for me so I’ve been searching for other option and have not found them until now. You are a blessing for sharing with others.
    God bless you greatly,
    Sue Reimer

  21. You are generously gifted & creative!
    And so generously giving! Thank you so much for sharing! Blessings back at you over & over! Mwah!!

  22. Luv your website. Can u help me? I have a half circle silk flag that I want to make into a swing flag. It is 44″ wide
    and at the center of the flag measures out 35″ long. How would I position the weighted string? Thank you & God bless you!!

    1. Mary, since that isn’t a size we’ve done before I’m not sure how much weight you need. What I suggest is just tinkering with it. Each time we develop a new size a lot of trial and error is involved. So I encourage you to work with it until you find what feels good to you. Since it’s a smaller size than the one in our how-to above, you’ll need less weight so start there! Hope you’re able to get it to work for you πŸ™‚ Happy worshipping!

  23. Make that 44 long35″ wide!!

  24. Thank you for these instructions. Do you wash your silk first? If so how did you wash it?

    1. You can if you want to, but you don’t have to.

  25. Thanks so much from country Victoria Australia!

  26. Meghan,
    Is it possible to make swing flags using only 2 yards of the 36″ width. I feel silly asking, but that’s what I have right now. If I cut the fabric, I guess it will be more like a square ?!? I was thinking even if it’s too small, I could make it for my daughter to use… Thanks for helping me in this process!

    1. Absolutely! You can make pretty much any size, you’ll just want to adjust the weights accordingly. Blessings to you!

  27. Wow! Thank You! I’ve been searching for how to on regular worship flags of all sizes and materials so I can make some for my church. Do you have any how to on those regular type of flags? Please share! Such a blessing thank You! πŸ’•πŸ•Š

    1. I’m glad it’s of help! Any DIY information we share is available here on our Dyed4you blog on the DIY tag which you can find at http://dyed4you.com/blog/tag/diy/

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