THE FIRST FLAG: MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES USED IN ITS CONSTRUCTION

Beyond the traditional museum elements employed to share the legacy of the first American flag and its creator, the Betsy Ross House utilizes creative story telling by living history actors to help guests immerse themselves more fully in revolutionary era Philadelphia. The house employs several talented actresses, each trained extensively on Ross’s life and the period accurate techniques believed to have been used in the construction of flag, who act in first person, as Betsy herself would’ve, answering guest questions and showcasing the work of 18th century sewing and flag construction. One such actress, Samantha, shared her insights into the flag manufacturing process and demonstrated how the first flag might’ve been sewn.

She shares that the first flag, like other military flags of the era, was likely composed primarily of wool, sewn to be durable and able to stand up to a variety of harsh weather conditions in the field, in contrast to more decorative flags made of silk. The flag was made of bunting wool, a textile with a loose weave easily able to shed water, making it an ideal choice for a military insignia in use outdoors. Though the base of the flag was wool, Samantha reports that other textiles may have also been used in construction, including “very likely linen thread and linen stars,” since linen thread was abundantly available to upholsters like Ross. She displayed the completed model flag currently on display at the Betsy Ross House, explaining that while it is approximately half the size of the original flag, the techniques used to create it were the same. The original flag was constructed in several parts, with shorter red and white stripes being stitched to the blue field, referred to as “the canton,” before this upper portion was joined with the longer stripes making up the bottom half of the flag. Holding up several stitchwork examples, Samantha gestured and explained, “the seam that holds [the fabric section] together is something called a felled seam…it’s double stitched, so this is a back stitch, and this side is a whip stitch or a hem stitch.” Photographic examples of such stitches can be found below.

Once the base of the flag was created, Ross would’ve individually cut and attached 26 white linen stars – 13 for the front of the flag and 13 for the back. But how did she produce them? “So, we have a couple of theories,” Samantha elaborated. “We know that Betsy knew this trick because A, she taught it to her kids and her grandchildren, and B, we have receipts that she did make flags for other military uses, particularly the Pennsylvania navy.” The “trick” Samantha refers to is a quilting technique employed to make perfect five-pointed stars, using a series of folds and cuts to form the star from a single fabric square without superfluous measuring for each individual star. Samantha demonstrated the technique using white paper before comparing her star to those on the replica flag, saying, “You can see when you cut it by hand and sew it on to the flag, that there is a modicum of human error. You can see it’s not perfectly aligned every single time…but afar you can’t really tell.” The end product certainly supports Samantha’s claims as, from even a short distance, the stars on the replica are nearly identical to one another.

Though the hand sewing techniques employed by Ross in the creation of the first flag may seem foreign and incomprehensible to many modern visitors, the work of Samantha and other Ross actors helps demystify the creative process, providing up close examples of fiber craft and important educational opportunities that make understanding the business of 18th century craftsmanship feel much more accessible.

This gallery includes images of Betsy Ross actress Samantha and some of the example pieces kept in the Betsy work space to demonstrate the techniques used to the create the first American flag.

PHOTO CREDIT: Talia Pugliese