Bunting looks like the easiest decoration in the world: triangles on a string, job done. Then you hang cotton flags on a slightly damp fence, and by the afternoon they have stretched into sad, drooping pennants. Or you sew stiff oilcloth triangles for a nursery garland and wonder why they stick out like road signs. The fabric does most of the work here, and picking the wrong one shows up fast.
Three fabrics cover almost every bunting project: cotton, polyester and oilcloth. Each has a personality, a price bracket and a set of jobs it does well. Here is how they compare before you cut a single triangle.
Cotton is a natural woven fabric, sold in weights from fine lawn to sturdy canvas. Craft shops usually stock quilting cotton, which is light, easy to cut and holds a pressed crease beautifully. It takes dye and print well and feels soft against a wall.
Polyester is synthetic and comes in a huge range of weights. Thin crepe and chiffon versions flutter; heavier twill and gabardine versions hold a firm triangle. It resists water, dries quickly and shrugs off mildew.
Oilcloth — sometimes sold as PVC-coated cotton or tablecloth fabric — is a cotton base with a wipeable plastic coating. It is the fabric on your picnic table cover, and that is exactly how it behaves as bunting: waterproof, rigid and easy to sponge clean.
Polyester is usually the cheapest per metre, especially printed flags bought ready-made, because mass production suits it. Cotton sits in the middle: basic quilting cotton is affordable, but heavyweight canvas or laminated cotton pushes the price up quickly. Oilcloth tends to be the priciest per metre because of the coating process, and you cannot always use every offcut.
Do not forget the hidden costs. Cotton needs hemming or pinking and a bit of pressing. Polyester frays when cut, so you either sew a narrow hem, use pinking shears or run a quick pass with a lighter along the edge to seal it. Oilcloth often needs no hemming at all, since the coating stops the weave from unravelling — that saves real time on a long run of flags. Check the usable width of your fabric too; a bold oilcloth motif can waste a lot of yardage if you need to fussy-cut around it.
For a dry indoor party, all three work. Outdoors, they separate quickly.
Cotton soaks up water, becomes heavy and sags, and if it is packed away damp it develops mildew spots that never quite wash out. It also fades in strong sun, so a set left up for a whole summer will look tired by August. Fine for a sunny afternoon; bring it in at night.
Polyester sheds light rain and dries fast, which is why it dominates reusable outdoor bunting. It is not truly waterproof — water still gets in at stitch holes and eyelets — but it recovers well and holds colour longer than cotton. If your party is in a changeable climate and you want to keep the bunting for years, this is the practical choice.
Oilcloth is the most rain-resistant of the three. Rain beads on the surface and you can wipe the flags dry with a cloth. The trade-offs are weight and wind: a long line of oilcloth flags strains the line and sags in the middle, and in a gusty garden it flaps hard enough to pull at eyelets and stitching. Cold weather also stiffens the coating, and repeated folding can eventually crack it.
One safety note for any fabric: keep bunting well away from candles, fire pits, patio heaters and hot bulbs. Natural and synthetic fabrics alike will burn.
This is where personal taste matters most. Cotton drapes softly, so triangles curl gently along the string and the whole line looks relaxed and nostalgic — ideal for a curtain rail, a cake table or a nursery wall.
Polyester depends entirely on the weight you buy. Light crepe and chiffon move in the breeze with a lovely flutter; heavier twill keeps a crisp, even triangle. Buy a swatch and hang it before committing to twenty metres.
Oilcloth barely drapes at all. Flags stay flat and rigid, which is brilliant for sharp graphic looks, photo backdrops and window displays where you want clean shapes, and less good if you are after a soft, romantic swag.
How you clean each fabric decides how many seasons you get out of it:
Whatever the fabric, store bunting dry and out of direct sunlight. A cotton set that goes away slightly damp is a cotton set you will be throwing out next spring.
If you are printing your own designs, the fabric changes the result. Dye-sublimation printing, which bonds colour into the fibre, works on polyester and produces rich, permanent prints that will not crack or peel — great for photographic images and gradients. On cotton, pigment printing gives a softer, slightly matte finish that suits hand-drawn and vintage-style patterns, though the print can soften over repeated washing.
Oilcloth is usually printed in flat, bold colours, which is part of its charm. The coating can, however, scratch with rough handling, and sharp folds can crack the print along the crease lines, so roll it rather than fold it for storage.
If you are still deciding, start with these pairings:
You can also mix them. A cotton swag over a doorway with an oilcloth line across the fence gives you softness where it shows and toughness where the weather hits. Buy half a metre of each candidate, cut one triangle from each, hang them on a line for a day, and see which one still looks good at dusk. That small test tells you more than any description. Once you know the fabric, the rest of the project — lengths, spacing, tape and storage — falls neatly into place.
Photo: kesie91 / Pixabay
