Women for Whales

When a friend announced her intention to attend an event in support of Women for Whales (a campaigning group run by our surf instructor among others), it seemed a perfect opportunity for me to channel my creative enthusiasm into something which would have a broader purpose than just looking pretty.

I really liked the idea of using a technique that was a traditional woman's craft associated with the home and using it to create a banner that would be used in a women-led protest aiming to reach out and raise awareness.

A successful protest banner should attract people's attention and clearly convey what it is about.  I hope you agree that this design succeeds against those criteria!

The overall design looks deceptively simple.  The whale is made up of rectangles stitched together.  Oxfam sells packs of recycled cotton squares, taken from offcuts in textile factories, ranging in colour and pattern.  I had a few of these packs which I had bought for a rainy day (or rather until I came up with an idea on how best to use them) and so I raided these for blue cotton squares.

I started by sketching and cutting out the design of a whale on paper and cutting the square cotton patches in half to create rectangles.  These I separated by shade.  I was lucky that one of the pieces had a circle, which was perfect for the eye.

I arranged the rectangular pieces in lines over the paper whale pattern, trying to use those pieces with a white pattern to represent the underside of the whale.  These pieces were then sewn end-to-end to create long strips, which were then lined up side-by-side and sewn together.  The resulting patchwork was then trimmed to size and appliquéd onto the white sheet (I had already cut this to size and sewn a hem).

I kept the design of the letters simple to make life easier for myself.  I think the bold lettering works fine though, and at least is legible.  The orange fabric is something I had used as a sarong at one point, but hadn't been worn for several years.  I think the bright orange works well with the blue and the pattern of bright small flowers adds a feminine touch.

This banner got its first outing in Brighton, at the annual paddle round the pier event (the photo is one taken by my friend at Brighton Beach).  Women for Whales are continuing their campaign, so hopefully it will get a few more outings yet.

Oxfam's Ethical Collection recycled cotton squares can be bought here.

You can read about Women for Whales here.