My rendering of the Historic Flag, above.
Below, the Historic Flag in the State Reception Room.

We begin the process of replicating the Washington State Flag originally
made by the Washington State chapters of the Daughters of the American Revolution (hereafter known as the DAR). The flag needs replication so the
original historic flag can be sent into archival storage for preservation and possibly conservation.   DAR members from across the State of Washington raised monies for this and in an age-old tradition, will be gifting the reproduction to their State.

Several parts of replication are in the works.

The silk for the new flag
must be matched from the smallest area of lifted trim, shown right — we cannot simply remove the trim and find a large patch of historic silk which has not faded to the khaki green that many
are used to seeing in the
State Reception Room.

Three types of gold passementerie must be found, shown above:
a looped picot trim;
a woven braid gimp; and,
a knotted tasselled chainette fringe.
It is possible but extremely costly to have them reproduced in small quantities,
however, we will come close.  Searches have begun in upholstery and dress couturier
shops  in the USA and in England, and among military reenactors.

Finally there is the painting of the medallion.

And accurate sketch must be made to scale of the original image.

Panels of silk will be stretched and primed to accept thin layers
of oil paint under the medallion location.

The sketch is transferred onto the silk;
the medallion will be hand-painted in oil by Kate Powell.

After the silk panel is completed, the reproduction banner will be sewn.

Below, the historic flag in our treatment rooms.

MPFC will be posting from time to time as we make interesting progress to share;
sign-up for posts if you are interesting in following the progress.

Visit our next post, Washington State Flag 2.

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