Patriotic Tennis Racket Upcycle

upcycle old tennis rackets into cute patriotic repurposed decor with this how to

What do you do when you get handed down some family tennis rackets, but can’t really figure out how to use them? Growing up, we had tennis courts right across the street in the neighborhood park. Every summer we took lessons and hung out there everyday. Whether my brother and I were playing each other (good occasion for a fight), hitting against the backboard, or Dad was hitting some balls with us, tennis was a part of our summertime entertainment! I am sentimental about these old rackets, since my dad’s initials are on one of them, but we just don’t have a “family room” in our house to decorate with fun athletic stuff. Instead, I decided to use them seasonally and play up their red, white and blue coloring with a Patriotic Tennis Racket upcycle!

Last year my patriotic decor was inspired by balls: baseballs and superballs! You can see the tabletop decor I created in “4th of July Tabletop Ideas”. This year I was inspired by outdoor games. {“10 Ways to Add Vintage Farmhouse Style to your Summertime Decor”}

My plan was to create a U.S.A. flag in the strings, First I grabbed some red and white yarn and tried to cross-stitch the lines of the flag. Too wimpy; the yarn didn’t fill the squares enough to be seen. Then I tried some red roping; still too skinny. I had planned on having red and white stripes.

Then I happened upon some old Wal-Mart 1″ red and white ribbon scraps. I also remembered a spool of navy with white stars ribbon I had picked up for cheap when a local fabric store went out of business. (Navy with white polka dot skinny ribbon would work nicely also).

I cut the ribbon at an angle and started weaving the ribbon up and down through the squares. I poofed out each square instead of pulling it too tight, so the stripes could be seen more. The red and white ribbon was woven horizontally. Then I wove the  skinnier blue with stars ribbon vertically to create the blue square.

Now this is what I was picturing in my head!

For the horizontals, I skipped a row to give it an airier look, for the vertical I filled every row. You’ll also notice for the blue ribbon I did every other row with my up and down to really show off the weave pattern and the cute red and white strings.

This red, white and blue patriotic tennis racket was just crying out for some flag cuteness!

On the other racket, I placed the flag in the opposite direction, so I could hang them in opposing fashion:

I can never do anything the same twice, so of course the 2 flags turned out a little differently! See the “D.O.” initials? How could I ever send this piece of  good memories to the thrift store? My dad spent many hours on the tennis courts with his kiddos! That’s love (love, love, actually…if you know tennis;)

All ready for some 4th of July decorating in our back entry!

I whipped up a  free downloadable, printable 4th of July greeting you can easily turn into some bunting. If you subscribe to my newsletter, I’ll send you a password to grab it in my Resource Library. I’ve got a bunch of other tips, tricks, recipes and printables there for your pleasure, too!

Once you’ve printed off the “Happy 4th” message, cut on the lines, hole punch in each top corner, and string on some twine. I added a little knot of red and white stripe ribbon tied to the twine at each end, also.

Here’s our patriotic back entry, styled with the upcycled tennis rackets and the bunting (and a big box star I picked up at a garage sale:)

(I kind of fall down the stairs when trying to take these pics!)

If you’ve got some extra tennis rackets laying around, this is an easy craft to tackle! If you don’t have any old rackets, there’s usually a couple at the local thrift store for a couple bucks.

Crafting a family memory into something I will actually use in my seasonal decor was fun, and can be enjoyed each summer! Hope you enjoyed this easy Patriotic tennis racket upcycle!

Sharing at these lovely parties:

Tuesday Turn About

All About Home

Farmhouse Friday

DIY Salvaged Junk Projects

Feathered Nest Friday

Sweet Inspiration

Talk of the Town

To Grandma’s House We Go

Vintage Charm