Care and Maintenance of Your Worship Flag
Care of Your Worship Flag: An Ounce of Prevention is Worth A Pound of Cure
Sunlight, Heat, & Dirt
If you have a silk flag, protect your flag from direct sunlight, or even a lot of indirect reflective light, as UV radiation bleaches the color and causes silk to degrade over time. Exposure to heat sources also degrades silk, so don't hang it over a heat vent.
It is easier to keep your flag clean than to clean it. When not in use, store your flag by hanging it or by rolling it carefully to prevent wrinkling.
Transport your flag in a protective holder such as a flag case, a plastic trash bag, or rolled in a thick piece of fabric. My husband has made a flag case for airline travel out of a piece of PVC pipe and two screw ends. We use a MIDI keyboard carrying case to transport flags locally. See some examples of our flag cases.
Wrinkling
When you are holding, but not flying, your flag, hold the flag by the handle and let the fabric hang. Avoid holding the fabric in your hand along with the pole, as this quickly wrinkles a flag.
If your flag becomes wrinkled, hang and steam the wrinkles away. If you don't have a professional steamer, an easy way to do this is to hang it in your steamy bathroom while you take a hot shower.
You may iron your flag on a low or "silk setting," but be aware that this may set any stains or dirt that is on your flag.
Flag Maintenance
With heavy use, your flag will need occasional maintenance to stay in good condition.
Tears in the fabric
If the fabric tears, mend as soon as possible to avoid further tearing.
The small dowel pokes out
Sometimes the small dowel will poke out an end of the small dowel pocket. If this happens, you will need to hand stitch the end of the small dowel pocket closed. Be sure the small dowel isn't too long, putting undue pressure on the fabric.
One of the dowels breaks
Rarely, one of the dowels will break and need to be replaced. See section below on laundering the flag for information on removing the old dowel. Refer to How to Build Your Own Worship Flags for information on replacement dowels and how to reconstruct your flag.
Your flag needs to be laundered
To launder your flag, it needs to be taken apart. Remove the large dowel by removing one of the pieces of trim. Then, carefully cut the few stitches that hold the end of the small dowel pocket closed.
Scarves and flags may be dry cleaned or hand washed. Hand wash the fabric in a gentle dishwashing detergent (I do not recommend Woolite for silk or other delicate fabrics, as it has harsh detergents for dealing with the lanolin in wool) and iron dry with an iron set to a low or "silk" and a steam setting.
Putting your flag back together
Refer to the Make Your Own Worship Flags page for instructions on how to put your flag together again.
Fire Flag Repair
Need to repair a worship flag or scarf with a cut edge, such as one of my fire flags? Click here for instructions.
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