To avoid disaster and disappointment, use only fast colored materials, drive every nail and tie every knot to stay under the strongest wind.
Various schemes have been used to keep bunting draperies from flapping in the wind and lodging upon ledges or other projections, thereby destroying the effect of the decoration.
We have discarded all methods of weighting or tying the bottom edges, because these methods only serve to hold the wind, as does a close-hauled sail, and increase the danger of tearing away the decoration.
To prevent the drapery from becoming disarranged, make short festoons, and do not allow the top much sag. Use a double alternate drapery, and keep it so far away from projections that it will drop into place again after the gust has passed.
You will find if it hangs free with only its own weight to keep it in position that the wind will to a large extent blow off it, and it will not become unsightly.
Fig. 50.
Under ordinary conditions the colors red and blue used with white present a most attractive combination. For special occasions, however, any desired colors may be employed, bearing in mind the relation of one color to the other and the harmony of the whole.
In different countries the relative position of the three colors in a joined red-white-and-blue bunting drapery is different (Figure at head of page [26]). In Great Britain, Netherlands and Paraguay red has the place of honor at the top; in the United States blue; and both observe the old law of heraldry that color must be separated from color by one of the metals—in this case by white, the emblem of silver. Where two colors only are used in combination better balance is obtained by having the darker band slightly the narrower. As the object sought is brightness, sharp contrasts give best results, always bearing in mind the correct harmony of related colors. Mourning draperies should avoid as far as possible fussy or frivolous tendencies, the festoons taking on the appearance of solemn massiveness, and finished at each extremity with a heavy cascade or tail.
Black, the accepted emblem of mourning, is either used alone or mixed with a small percentage of white in unobtrusive places.