The latest breaking updates, delivered straight to your email inbox.

As the Mayflower II departed Mystic, Connecticut, last summer – it did so to great fanfare.

Flying from its main and foremasts were two 5-foot by 8-foot flags. One was the Cross of Saint George and the other, the king's colors.

Perhaps many that gathered for this historic sendoff may never have thought twice about the history of these two flags, except for those working behind the walls of Brewer Banner Designs in New Bedford. That's where those flags were sewn.

Penny Brewer, the daughter of sailors and one-time art school teacher, first started crafting personalized banners for family and friends. It became her business in 1984.

"Some people started to commission me to make flags for their weddings or this and that," she said.

The work has taken many shapes and sizes over the years.

"Some weeks, we’ll make one or two if they’re really complicated. And then some weeks we'll make 60 cause they're little burgee for yacht clubs and things," she said.

Recently, Hollywood came calling. Brewer and her team re-created 34-stared linen American flags for the "Dickinson" series on Apple TV. The flags will be used in the show to drape the coffins of soldiers killed in the Civil War.

Brewer stresses she's committed to creating a quality product but she can fly her flag of excellence based on the understanding of a customer's unique needs.

"A lot of times, you're working as a translator for people," she said. "They have an idea that they want to convey but they don’t know how to convey it graphically."

Brewer also has a panache for being historically accurate with her craft. In fact, the Lewis R. French out of Camden, Maine, the oldest two-masted schooner in the United States, sails with flags from Brewer Banner.

Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.