trying my hand at sewing

[AlanH]

My old (very old) mainsail ended it's functional life before the Vallejo race in a big roundup in more wind than I've ever seen off of Coyote Point. so a couple of weekends ago I laid it out on the driveway and cut big panels out of the good cloth that's left. I have 20 feet of #6 luff tape left over from a project I never finished. Ditto for some sail thread. I scavenged some good s.s. rings from the reef clews off the mainsail. Now I've just made arrangement to purchase a small (quite small) heavy-duty sewing machine off of Craigslist. This sewing machine doesn't have the long arm that a real industrial machine has, but it does have a walking foot and does both straight stitch and zig zag. The current owner says he sewed leather and vinyl upholstery with it and he'll let me take a crack at sewing through four or five layers of sailcloth before I plunk down the absurdly small amount of money he wants for the machine. I'll have to alternate sides from which I feed the sailcloth, once I get to making the actual sail but that's OK. It's just slow..

I think I'm going to take a shot at stitching up a #4....errr..heavy weather jib.

The UK site suggests a sail that's 85% of the luff and 85% of the LP for a #4. That seems big to me. OK, my boats headsail hoist is essentially 30 feet. 85% of that is 25 feet. The total luff length of this sail will be about 22 feet.....20 feet of tape and then about a foot past the end of the tape on each end. J on the boat is 9.5 feet, so 85% of that is 8 feet and change. I set up the LP on this sail to be 6.5 feet. So in other words, this will be a ......hmmm. "#5", more like.

 

[mike cunningham]

Keep us posted on success or lack thereof. I have often pondered buying a heavy duty machine for various repairs and projects. A couple of jobs and you have saved the cost of the machine and learned a new, useful skill to boot.

 

[AlanH]

I've made sail covers on my home machine. Ditto for the whole-boat cover for the skerry. I sewed up the sails for the skerry on that same machine though the zig-zag is irregular. It's still plenty strong, though. Back in the day I even repaired some old Cal 20 sails. However, 4-5 layers of 6+ oz sailcloth doesn't work. For that you need some *punch* and a bigass needle.

Now I don't think I can make a sail that will win races, but I think I can knock out a small, strong sail where shape isn't vitally important. I know I can make a functional lugsail....did it.

 

[Sailronin]

Hi Alan,
There are very few small walking foot zig zag machines out there, mostly Sailrites or copies of that design. These machines are designed for heavy cloth and will probably be OK with 4-5 layers of 6oz but be sure to test first before purchase.
Thread tension will be important to get a good stitch as well as "punch power" as mentioned. For 6oz you want to use "V 69" thread and the size needle and tension for that thread.
Most home machines will bend the needle bar sewing multiple layers of heavy Dacron so be careful when you start your pre purchase testing, you don't want to be in a "you broke it, you own it" situation if the machine is not suitable for your needs.

 

[AlanH]

Hi Alan,
There are very few small walking foot zig zag machines out there, mostly Sailrites or copies of that design. These machines are designed for heavy cloth and will probably be OK with 4-5 layers of 6oz but be sure to test first before purchase.
Thread tension will be important to get a good stitch as well as "punch power" as mentioned. For 6oz you want to use "V 69" thread and the size needle and tension for that thread.
Most home machines will bend the needle bar sewing multiple layers of heavy Dacron so be careful when you start your pre purchase testing, you don't want to be in a "you broke it, you own it" situation if the machine is not suitable for your needs.

Well, when I went to look at the Elgin machine that I'd seen on Craigslist, turns out that the people selling it were sailors. They'd done a Pacific Rim trip in their Hallberg Rassey a few years ago. Their canvas and sail repair machine was a Pfaff 230. When they found out that I wanted to sew up sails, I got...a) free coffee and b.) a Pfaff 230 for $100. I was kind of blown away. with "not V69" thread, just regular polyester, and a size 16 needle it did a nice job of punching through 4 layers of old dacron and laid down a nice even zigzag. So I think I'm set.

The Pfaff 230 is a beast. Well, it's a mini-beast and it doesn't have a walking foot, but otherwise I don't think this thing is going to have a problem with some sails and canvas. I wouldn't use it for a production machine, but for what I have in mind, should be just fine.

I have a big spool of V69 at home that I'll be using on the storm jib. I need to order some size 16 or 18 needles.

 

[Philpott]

Well, when I went to look at the Elgin machine that I'd seen on Craigslist, turns out that the people selling it were sailors. They'd done a Pacific Rim trip in their Hallberg Rassey a few years ago. Their canvas and sail repair machine was a Pfaff 230. When they found out that I wanted to sew up sails, I got...a) free coffee and b.) a Pfaff 230 for $100. I was kind of blown away. with "not V69" thread, just regular polyester, and a size 16 needle it did a nice job of punching through 4 layers of old dacron and laid down a nice even zigzag. So I think I'm set. The Pfaff 230 is a beast. Well, it's a mini-beast and it doesn't have a walking foot, but otherwise I don't think this thing is going to have a problem with some sails and canvas. I wouldn't use it for a production machine, but for what I have in mind, should be just fine. I have a big spool of V69 at home that I'll be using on the storm jib. I need to order some size 16 or 18 needles.
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Alan, That's a beautiful sewing machine. A work of art! Have you seen this? Christian Williams does sailors a wonderful service with his utubes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9atUZ1656zg&feature=em-subs_digest

 

[AlanH]

Alan, That's a beautiful sewing machine. A work of art! Have you seen this? Christian Williams does sailors a wonderful service with his utubes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9atUZ1656zg&feature=em-subs_digest

That's a nifty video. Most of what he talks about, I know already but for a complete beginner it's a handy introduction.

I can see myself sewing up headsails and doing stuff like clew repairs on a mainsail. I can see mysel sewing up bags and covers. I'm not sure I want to do upholstery, but then my boat doesn't need upholstery yet, so there we go. I do wish the Pfaff had a walking foot. Other than that, this is a beastette, and besides, there's a $20 aftermarket walking foot accessory available, which I will probably purchase.

http://www.sewingpartsonline.com/walking-foot-low-shank-p60444.aspx

 

[Sailronin]

Wow, a Pfaff 230 for $100 is a steal! That's a great machine and will last for decades as long as it's kept lubed and exercised. You can make pretty much any sail you want with that machine. I had a Pfaff 238 (the industrial version) in my loft 40 years ago, still wish I had that machine.

 

[AlanH]

Project #1 is to put a cunningham on the "new-to-me" used dacron delivery mainsail I just got. I have a small s.s. ring with a webbing strap on it. We shall see!

 

[Critter]

I did that with a mainsail once. It worked fine, and was much easier and cheaper than pressing a ring into the sail.

 

[AlanH]

Project #1 done...webbing-and-ring cunningham installed. I added a foot-long reinforcing strip sewn onto mainsail, then stitched the webbing onto that, sewing it into both the mainsail fabric and the reinforcement. I put the mainsail back on the boat today, hoisted it and then cranked down pretty hard on the cunningham. Works a treat.