Out of Sails in Lee-on-the-Solent

Sails are built for weather. Once they come off the boat, most of that cloth still ends up in landfill. Wendy Barker quotes a figure of around 97 percent. Out of Sails is her answer from Lee-on-the-Solent: she cuts used sails into beach bags, holdalls and small household pieces so the material keeps working on shore.

Wendy runs the business as a one-person maker rather than a high-street shop. Ready-made pieces sit on her website, and she takes custom orders if someone wants a particular size or has a sail they would rather see reused than thrown away. Local sailors have already offered old kit. Each piece keeps the character of the cloth it came from: stitching lines, faded panels, the odd mark from years on the water.

The range is practical first. Beach bags and holdalls take the obvious share of the work because sailcloth is light, strong and already used to damp conditions. Alongside those sit smaller home items, from framed pieces to simple nautical knot work. Nothing is produced in bulk. Sale pieces on the site are often prototypes or slightly imperfect versions of the same idea, listed with a note of what is different about them.

Lee-on-the-Solent sits on the Solent shore, with sailing clubs, the seafront and a steady traffic of boats just offshore. That setting is the point of the work. Visitors will not find a walk-in workshop advertised as a tourist stop. The practical route is the website, where current stock and custom enquiries are handled. For anyone staying along this stretch of coast who wants something made from real sailing cloth rather than a printed souvenir, that is where the work is.