Sailmaking tips

  • 06 Mar 2011 21:15
    Reply # 540191 on 538599

    Personally, I would stick everything. If sewing two unstuck cloths and one of them gets caught then the seam will be wobbly. It's better if the seam is straight and the row of stitches are wobbly. I used a lot of Venture tape and don't regret it.

    I would fold the edge of the material inside the tape. If you nail the edge of a piece of cloth to a board and pull hard you could pull the warp out of the weft. If you fold the material and put the nail through the double thickness then there will be threads along the fold that will help to trap the warp so that it will not pull out. Similarly with a sewn edge and tape.

    Last modified: 06 Mar 2011 21:15 | Anonymous member
  • 06 Mar 2011 01:01
    Reply # 539728 on 538599
    Deleted user
    As anybody reading my questions elsewhere can probably figure out, I'm a novice with a sewing machine (although give me needle & thread and I'll make something that will hold up, even if it isn't pretty).  I'm getting ready to sew my first and second sails I've ever worked on.  So I am asking advice of all the great ones who have made at least one more sail than I have to date :-)

    Should I expect to use basting tape in nearly every seam and hem in the Odyssey III fabric as I sew my sails up? Or will I just need it for "difficult" ones?  (Whatever those are?)  My main concern is ordering enough of it.

    Also, I'm planning to use 2" wide webbing on leach and luff, folded around the fabric to protect from stretch and chafe.  Is there any reason to put a hem in the fabric inside that?  Or would a hem and unfolded webbing be better?

    Barry
  • 05 Mar 2011 21:32
    Reply # 539639 on 538599
  • 05 Mar 2011 05:20
    Reply # 539306 on 539298
    Annie Hill wrote: Personally, I prefer a good pair of dressmaking shears to the Stanley knife and straight edge.  A lot faster because once you have the knack, you can just open them and push along the marked line, cutting as you go.  You don't need to open and close the blades each time.

    Only been involved in making 8 or so sails, so I bow to The Great One in his desiderata.
    Sure, I like to do it that way too, but I hesitated to list it, because getting the knack involves a few trips off sideways into the cloth that you didn't want to cut. It does need a steady hand on the helm - but then, so does knife-cutting.
    And not so much of TGO. You and I both are just passing on the wrinkles we've learned to those who haven't yet made any sails.
  • 05 Mar 2011 04:49
    Reply # 539298 on 538599
    Personally, I prefer a good pair of dressmaking shears to the Stanley knife and straight edge.  A lot faster because once you have the knack, you can just open them and push along the marked line, cutting as you go.  You don't need to open and close the blades each time.

    Only been involved in making 8 or so sails, so I bow to The Great One in his desiderata.
  • 04 Mar 2011 09:46
    Message # 538599
    A few jottings on things I've found out whilst making ten or a dozen junk sails for myself and friends:
    • Map pins and string are a good way of laying out the outline of a sail on a wooden sealed floor that won't take chalk.
    • A sailmaker's loft usually has a pit by the edge of the floor, for the machinist to sit in. It's much easier to sew if the sail and machine are at the same level.
    • To duplicate this, I rented the village community hall, which had a number of folding tables. After the full floor had been used to lay out and cut the sail, these tables were set out in a long line down one side of the hall, with a gap for the machinist, leaving the rest of the floor free to lay down the sail and add the next piece to be sewn on. The completed part of the sail, loosely flaked, and the roll of the piece being sewn on, both pass along the table.
    • If you use the C-clip method of controlling the roll of cloth which passes under the arm, rollers of plastic or cardboard tube are useful to place underneath the roll and assist it along the table.
    • For a long seam, a helper is most useful, to ease the bulk of the sail along the table, leaving only that part very close to the machine to be moved by the machine and machinist. Two helpers are even better, on a very large heavy sail, one ahead and one behind the machine.
    • The helper must be careful not to twitch or jerk the sail, but must keep a steady pull on the sail; neither trying to pull the cloth through the machine nor lagging too far behind, causing the sail to bunch up.
    • A line on the table, or a length of masking tape, extending out ahead of the needle, is helpful in sewing straight. The helper keeps the finished seam following the line.
    • Oddysey III has a coated side and an uncoated side. One side takes pencil and pen marks, the other doesn't. Keep the markable side always on the same side of the sail.
    • If you want to use conventional polyester sailcloth, Haywards is probably the best for junk sails - softer, unfilled and UV protected. Available direct from http://www.heathcoat.co.uk or from http://www.kayospruce.com
    • There are different grades of double-sided tape for temporary joining of pieces before stitching. It pays to get the strongest and stickiest. The best brand I've used is Venture tape.
    • A Stanley knife, a metal straight edge and a plastic cutting board are the best way of straight-cutting coated cloth.
    • Dacron sailcloth should be cut with a hot knife for a long lasting edge, but you can get away with a knife cut.
    • A large pair of scissors works well for cutting curves in coated cloth.
       " ...there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in junk-rigged boats" 
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