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| Research was
conducted to find the original 45th Illinois flag. Though we know there
were at least two national flags given to the unit only one remains in
Springfield. The condition of that flag is poor at best. The entire blue
canton field is missing. Because of this, we really had no idea how the
34 stars were arranged. Since the first two flags given the unit were
very similar to those manufactured by GILBERT HUBBARD & CO. of
Chicago and may have been made by this company we chose the 5-6-6-6-6-5
configuration. |
Working
with the standard 72" x 78" pattern we made some calculations
and purchsed the necessary materials. Here the canton field is laid out
and checked for accuracy. |
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| After each
piece was cut out it was laid out to insure all of the pieces were cut
to the correct dimensions. Here the top seven stripes are placed with
the canton field. |
In this
picture all thirteen stripes are placed with the canton. We have also
laid out the fringe to see how it looks along with the lettering
template with the regiment name. We used Powerpoint to layout the
template as it allowed us to try different fonts and font sizes. |
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| Here the
regimental seemstress does the hard work of sewing all of the parts
together. We found that first sewing the top sevent stripes together
made it easier to mate the canton field. Once that was complete, we
moved on to painting and lettering. |
With the
basic flag complete, we moved on to the stars and lettering. The stars
were laid out in the appropriate pattern and transfered to frisket film.
The frisket allowed us to cut out all 34 stars on one template and
transfer this to the flag. |
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| Since the
frisket has a tackey back, we were able to position the template and
afix it to the flag. Once in place, the stars were painted with fabric
paint. Painting was very easy and two coats were used. Because the
frisket is fixed to the flag, there was no bleeding under the mask. |
I this photo
the stars have been painted on both sides of the flag and the basic
lettering is completed. |
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| Using the
friskete to mask the letters we were able to obtain the shadowing for
the regimental name. |
With the
stars and lettering complete, the bottom six stripes (as one unit) were
sewn to the top seven with the canton section. |
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| The final
steps were to create the pole sleeve and afix the fringe to the outer
perimeter. |
The finished
product flying along the banks for the Galena River. |
