Nautical Series Part 1: Seaside Bunting

I decided to push myself to sail uncharted seas by making a series of craft projects with a nautical theme. You may be wondering why I have chosen autumn to do such a thing when all things seaside are generally associated with the summer. Well you see, to me, they aren't! 

Traditionally four generations of my family gather in the North Yorkshire seaside town of Whitby every October, so I associate the seaside with warm boots, turbulent waves crashing over the pier, stormy skies and eating fish and chips all cosy and warm in the kitchen of whichever cottage we're renting that year. For me that week is full of seafaring legends and ghostly goings on, the gothic Whitby Abbey and looking out for seals in the harbour while wrapped up in a scarf and coat. My nan also lives by the sea in North Wales, so I've always been used to visiting beaches at all times of the year, whatever the weather!

 I can't make it to Whitby this year, so I decided to fuel a series of creative projects instead. 

Over the next few weeks I'll be exploring all things seaside and nautical through a variety of art and craft forms, playing around with ideas and sharing my results here with you.

So first of all, I made my first ever bunting!

It does actually look rather summery, doesn't it, but then bunting is supposed to be cheery and I made it to brighten things up a little. 

In traditional bunting fashion I used fabric scraps left over from other projects and appliqued on some seaside scraps I bought for a few pence on eBay. I have quite a stash of bias binding because it's one of those things you see in craft books and think 'where on earth would I buy that from?!' so when I see it, I tend to buy a couple of metres, and it turns out I'd got into a bit of a habit and built up quite a stash!

I really enjoyed making this project and found it a lot less nerve racking sewing such a long length in a straight line on the sewing machine than I thought I would. This piece is only short at eight pennants, but I can now see me making bunting in longer lengths and for every occasion!  

And I have a new entry in my sewing journal...

I really hope you'll join me for the rest of my nautical series. I'm going to be posting projects erratically because I don't want to lose the fun of creative exploration by pushing myself to produce them by a certain deadline, but there will be more soon.

What does the seaside remind you of?