How to Wash, Iron and Store Fabric Bunting So It Lasts for Years

Fabric bunting spends most of its life doing the easy part — hanging in a garden, catching the light, holding a party together. Then it comes down, gets bundled into a bag and sits in a cupboard until the next occasion. The sets that survive five or six parties are rarely the expensive ones. They are the ones that were washed gently, dried without being stretched, pressed at a sensible heat, and rolled away instead of crushed into a box.

Here is how to give yours that treatment, whatever it is made from.

Start with the fabric, not the stain

Before any water is involved, check what the flags are made of. Cotton and linen are forgiving: they tolerate warm water, oxygen-based stain removers and a hot iron. Polyester, satin and nylon need cooler water and a low iron, and they mark easily if you press them too hard. Felt usually cannot be washed at all — spot clean it and leave it at that.

Then look at the decoration. Glitter, heat-transfer vinyl, appliqué and hand-painted lettering hate soaking, scrubbing and direct heat. Ribbon, ric-rac, pom-poms, lace and tassels each behave differently in water, and some trims bleed colour onto pale fabric. If your bunting has any of these, treat it as delicate from the first step.

A two-minute test saves a lot of regret: find an inside seam or the very end of the binding tape, wet a white cloth and rub. If colour transfers to the cloth, do not soak the bunting. Spot clean and air it instead.

How to hand wash bunting properly

Hand washing is the safest option for almost every set, and it takes less time than people expect.

1. Shake it out outdoors first. Dust, pollen and grass clippings rinse out far more easily before they get wet. Unclip the ties, remove any hooks or pins, and lay the bunting out to check for loose stitching.
2. Fill a basin with lukewarm water. Anything around 30°C is plenty. Add a small amount of mild detergent — a wool or delicates wash, or two drops of washing-up liquid for a small set. Skip anything with bleach or brighteners unless the fabric is plain white.
3. Lower the bunting in and press it under the water. Move it around gently with your fingers for a minute or two, then leave it for ten minutes. Do not scrub, and do not rub printed areas against each other.
4. Rinse at the same temperature. Two changes of clean water are usually enough. Suds left in the fabric attract dirt later and can leave a dull film on dark colours.
5. Never wring it. Lift the bunting out, let it drain, then lay it flat between two clean towels and press down with your palms to squeeze out the water.

Can you machine wash it?

Occasionally, yes — plain cotton bunting with no trim and no printing can go in on a delicate cycle at 30°C, inside a mesh laundry bag, with the spin turned right down. Take it out the moment the cycle ends. Anything with glitter, felt, satin, lace or glued decoration should stay out of the machine; the agitation loosens glue and frays seam edges much faster than hand washing does.

Stain removal by type

Deal with stains as soon as the party is over. Old stains set, and set stains need harsher treatment than delicate trim should ever get.

• Grease and butter: rub in a drop of washing-up liquid, leave ten minutes, then hand wash as normal.
• Red wine, fruit juice, tea: flush from the back of the fabric with cold water first, then apply a little oxygen-based cleaner. Hot water on these simply fixes the colour in.
• Candle wax: let it harden, snap off what you can, then place the flag between two sheets of kitchen paper and press with a warm iron. The paper lifts the wax out.
• Grass and mud: soak in cool water with a mild detergent for half an hour, then work the mark out with your fingertips.

Test any cleaner on the hidden seam of a spare flag before using it on the whole set. And resist chlorine bleach on coloured cotton — it leaves pale patches that no amount of ironing will fix.

Drying without stretching the flags

Hang the bunting by the binding tape, not by the points of the triangles, or the fabric will pull out of shape and hang unevenly forever. A washing line in the shade works well; direct midday sun fades dyed cotton surprisingly fast. If you have space, dry the whole strip flat on a towel laid over an airer.

Tumble dryers are best avoided. Even a low setting can shrink cotton and crinkle polyester into shapes that are hard to press out, and they put unnecessary stress on the stitching where each flag meets the tape. Let time do the job instead.

Ironing at safe temperatures

Press bunting while it is slightly damp, or mist it with water as you go, and always work on the back of the flags. Use a pressing cloth over anything printed, glued, glittered or felted.

• Cotton and linen: a hot iron, steam on, working in smooth strokes along the weave.
• Cotton-polyester blends: medium heat. If you are unsure, start low and increase gradually.
• Polyester and satin: low heat, no steam, and keep the iron moving — these fabrics mark and shine with heat.
• Nylon and delicate trims: the very lowest setting, or hang the bunting and let the creases drop out with time.

Iron the tape first, then each flag individually rather than dragging the iron across the joins, where pleats form quickly. Let the strip cool completely before you move it, and check that no part is still warm when it goes into storage.

Store it rolled, not folded

Folding creates hard creases along exactly the same lines every time, and after a few seasons those lines become permanent. Rolling avoids them.

Wrap a cardboard tube in acid-free tissue or a clean cotton sheet, then roll the bunting around it, interleaving tissue between the layers so the trim does not catch. Slip the roll into a cotton pillowcase or a breathable fabric bag. Avoid sealed plastic — it traps damp and can leave a smell — and avoid leaving bunting in direct sunlight or in a shed where the temperature swings.

For long-term storage, keep it dry and add a cedar block or a lavender sachet nearby, not touching the fabric. Label the bag with the fabric and date so you are not guessing next time.

Before the next party

A day before you need it, unroll the bunting and hang it somewhere airy. Most light creases fall out on their own within a few hours, and any that remain will lift with a quick press on the reverse. While it is up, run your eye along the tape and mend loose stitching or fraying edges with a few small hand stitches. Then roll it away again the same way. Ten minutes of care on each end of the season is what keeps a good set of bunting looking new year after year.

Photo: Tima Miroshnichenko / Pexels