Memorial Day: How to Make a Paracord Poppy
With Memorial Day right around the corner, it's important to remember why we celebrate it. While it's fun to have an extra day off work and be outside, it's also about remembering those who fought for our country and made the ultimate sacrifice.
A brief history - Memorial Day honors the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military. Originally known as Decoration Day, it originated in the years following the Civil War and became an official federal holiday in 1971.
The Civil War claimed more lives than any conflict in U.S. history, requiring the establishment of the country’s first national cemeteries. By the late 1860s Americans in various towns and cities had begun holding springtime tributes to these countless fallen soldiers, decorating their graves with flowers and reciting prayers.
Memorial Day, as Decoration Day gradually came to be known, originally honored only those lost while fighting in the Civil War. But during World War I the United States found itself embroiled in another major conflict, and the holiday evolved to commemorate American military personnel who died in all wars. {Info from history.com}
May 26 is National Poppy Day. The American Legion encourages people to wear poppies to “remember the fallen and support the living.”
The poppy is also the official memorial flower of the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. Veterans in VA hospitals across the United States assemble “Buddy Poppies”- little, red artificial flowers that people can wear in memory of members of the military who were killed in action.
Now that you know why we celebrate Memorial Day and make Poppies, you're ready to learn how to make one!
It's very simple and you can make it with just a little bit of scrap paracord:
What you need:
2 (about) feet of green paracord for the stem
3 inches of red paracord for the flower
1 inch of red paracord for the inside (to make it more full)
1/2 inch black paracord for the center
Then you'll want to gut all four pieces by pulling out the inner strands.
Then you carefully pull apart the ends of the longer red strand as shown below. This forms the base and outside "pedals".
Then you'll want to do the same thing with the smaller red cord. However, you'll want to do it less wide because this one will sit inside of the longer red cord.
Next, do the same with the small black strand, but again, not as much as the shorter red cord.
Now, you don't need super glue (I've done some with and some without), but it will help it stay together.
Here's the fun part...
Put a small dab of the glue on the top inside of the longer red strand and carefully place the shorter red strand directly in the middle. You will likely want to shorten the base of the shorter red strand so it has a VERY small piece that isn't "fluffed" out so it will sit as close to the longer red strand as possible.
Now you have a little more full look to the pedals.
Do the same with the black strand.
Next, you can do whatever weave you like to form the stem, here I did the Cobra/Solomon.
Finally, cut off the excess green and red cords and you're done! You have paracord poppy to wear on Memorial Day!
If you'd like more patriotic crafts, check out this blog on 4 Ways to Show Your Patriotism. It has a couple great red, white, and blue bracelets you can make!
Have a Happy Memorial Day!
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Paracord Love, Lauri