DIY Garden Flag Using A Pumpkin Stencil

This DIY Garden Flag Using A Pumpkin Stencil was super easy to make. If not for waiting on the paint to dry, it would have been a 30 minute craft.

I cannot even express how much I love that pumpkin stencil and how pretty it turned out. You can find it at Stencil Revolution along with the Hello Fall stencil I used on the top of the yard flag.

Supplies List

• One piece (approximately 15×20) of Drop Cloth
• Pumpkin Stencil (Stencil Revolution)
• Hello Fall Stencil (Stencil Revolution)
• Easy-Tack Adhesive Spray
• Garden Flag Pole 38″
• DecoArt Americana Acrylic Paint Spiced Pumpkin (orange)
• DecoArt Americana Chalky Paint New Life (green)
• DecoArt Americana Chalky Paint Rogue (red)
• Apple Barrel Acrylic Paint Territorial Beige
• Martha Stewart Acrylic Metallic Paint Copper

Make The Flag

I custom made my flag without a pattern. You can too. It’s easy. I used the top of the flag pole to mark the drop cloth using a pencil. This is the width needed. Be sure to mark at least 3/4 inch more to allow room for a hem. 

Mine only needed to be hemmed on the one side and the bottom because I made my cut next to the side and top hem on the drop cloth. Smart, right! It is a nice short cut and time saver.

My yard flag pole size is 38″. The finished size of my flag is about 13′ x 18″.

Sew or Iron on Hem

Use a straight edge devise to mark the cut for each side. A yard stick works great for this step and I keep one in my craft room for this purpose. 

I used my sewing machine for the hem because it is so quick but you could easily skip sewing and make the hem using fusible bonding such as Stitch Witchery seen here.

Once you have finished making your flag, be sure to iron the fabric well before adding the stencil. 

Using Stencils to decorate the flag

Now that you have made  your drop cloth garden flag it is time for decorating with stencils. I used two fall stencils for this project. The first one is the pretty pumpkin with vines and also the Hello Fall stencil which makes the greeting.

My tip for holding the stencil in place is to use Easy-Tack (see supply list for affiliate link) which is a repositionable spray adhesive. It makes stenciling so much easier!

Time to Paint

This is the slowest part of the project and yet it doesn’t really take very long at all. When I am doing crafts or DIY Decor projects like this, I usually listen to a podcasts or an educational video at the same time. Multi-tasking is over rated but it has been bred into us.

Be sure to place a piece of card board or something under the drop cloth before painting!

The drop cloth sort of curled up while the paint was wet but it laid down flat after the paint dried. Because drop cloth fabric has wide spaces I painted heavily. I think that is what caused the fabric to curl. 

Also see DIY Stenciled Americana Drop Cloth Pillow Cover

How to paint the vines

After the main color of the pumpkin has dried and you remove the stencil then you can paint the vines. Be sure to use a small paint brush and a steady hand. My hubby painted the vines. He is much more meticulous than me and I appreciated him doing that part.

Our grandson was working in my craft room on a Science project for school. He was creating a glacier by painting an old toy and using Epsom salts to make ice. It turned out pretty cool and it was fun for us to work side by side on our projects that day. 

Flag Colors

The main color of the pumpkin is DecoArt Americana Spiced Pumpkin. The stem is Apple Barrel Territorial Beige and the vines are DecoArt Americana Chalky New Life which is also used on the Ivy around the Hello Fall greeting. DecoArt Americana Rouge is the reddish color on the swirl under Hello Fall. My favorite color on the flag is Martha Stewart Metallic Copper which is used for the Hello Fall greeting.

All done! Such an easy DIY Fall Decor project, right? I am not sure why I have waited so long to make a garden flag but it won’t be my last one!

Thank you for sharing!