Tag: sewing

Jibberish.

I finally got a couple of days to work on our jib. The sailcloth is in good shape for the most part. Except for the section along the leech that gets beat against the shrouds every tack, and pressed tight against the spreaders when close hauled. It has torn in several places.

After a discussion with the sailmaker at Sailrite I decided to go for a repair that replaced the first 30” or so on the leech end of 3 panels of the sail. Also patched the beat up sunbrella sun cover and made new spreader patches. And replaced a few well worn webbing strips at the head and clew as well.

It took me about 2 full days of my slow but steady mode of work. Also using PTFE thread in my LSZ-1 is a huge pain in the aft, but it’s a necessity for the UV-exposed stitching.

But it’s done and I like how it came out. And I have my living room back. Fingers crossed that it does the trick 🤞🏼

While I was doing this project, Monte was rebuilding and installing our autopilot wheel drive unit. ✅ and ✅

Sewing sails.

This time, I’m sewing a different kind of sail. Ann is becoming a grandma soon, and Shelly is coordinating a crowd-sourced baby quilt for her future grandson. She’s handing out a couple dozen quilt squares to decorate.

Here’s mine. ⛵️💙 🚼 🙃

I can’t wait to see the finished quilt.

One step forward…

As Monte likes to say, every time we go to the boat to cross something off the todo list, we add 2 more things to the list.

On Monday we went to the marina to install 3 new halyards and new jib sheets on Nirvana. When we lowered the jib to change the halyard, I found a 2’ long tear along the edge of the sunbrella cover. So we rolled it up and brought it home.

No more over-sheeting the jib against the spreaders, please. It’s not the America’s Cup…

Yesterday I laid it out and mended it; should be good for a while. I ripped off the sunbrella cover, sandwiched the tear between 2 layers of new adhesive-backed 6 oz dacron, sewed it down several times, and then sewed the sunbrella back down.

One step forward…

New trick.

When I was a kid, the zipper on my favorite pair of jeans broke. Back then, my solution was to cut and sew buttonholes in the inside of the top zipper placket, and sew buttons on the inside of the bottom zipper placket, ala button-up Levi’s 501 style. It worked, and my favorite jeans lived a while longer.

This week, I mended a pair of waterproof rain paints. The zipper had essentially corroded onto the zipper teeth and was permanently stuck in the down position. I considered the button-up solution again, but that wouldn’t be great for waterproof pants. So, I decided to go for it… replace the zipper. I’ve never done it before. So I stared at it for a very, very long time. There are like 10 different sets of stitching on a zipper placket. I had to figure out which ones to rip out to get the zipper out, which ones to leave in place, and figure out the right order of steps to sew the new one in. So, after mentally reverse-engineering the entire zipper placket assembly, I decided I could do it.

In the end, the amount of time I spent staring at it took much longer than the amount of time it took me to rip the necessary seams, remove the old zipper, and sew in the new one. I used a little waterproofing goo on the inside to waterproof the new exposed seams. And voila!

The “after”… new zipper installed.

It’s not exactly Saville Row work, but I learned a new thing. #proudofmyself

Two more canvas projects.

Last year one of the catboat’s trailer tires wore out, due mostly to UV damage, and sitting on the dirt. It now has a new set of radials, for which Monte requested covers.

Today I got around to making them, out of captain navy sunbrella. Voila! The squirrels better not mess with these!

Project #2 was a new grill cover for S/V Trident’s Magma grill out of forest green sunbrella reclaimed from one of Lori’s old dodger window cover panels.

Now I guess I have no more excuses to keep me from finishing my taxes…

Nice rack.

🙂

My latest build request to Monte was a thread-spool rack for my work closet. My projects continue to expand, and my thread inventory has become an unmanageable pile of spools. I also want to be able to store each bobbin with its corresponding spool of thread, since it’s hard to tell the difference between V-69 and V-92 thread sizes; and navy blue, black and dark green start to look the same to my old eyes. So, the top of each dowel is tapered so bobbins can be stored with each spool. I can also use it to store my growing collection of binding tape, basting tape, cord, and webbing. Voila!

It’s perfect.

Clearing the decks.

I have been keeping my year-old Sailrite sewing machine busy with boat canvas and sail projects, to make way for the next ones on my list.

Finished projects:

  • mainsail repairs for Julie & Ryan’s yet-to-be-named Catalina 25
  • new LifeSling 2 cover for Nirvana to match all the other sunbrella on-board
  • instrument panel cover v3.0 for Trident (this one can be tied to the boat so it won’t blow away in 50+ knot winds)
  • sailcover repairs for Cupholder
  • new mainsail luff-tape cover for Nirvana‘s furling boom
  • tool roll-ups for Monte, one for his metric wrenches, and one for his SAE wrenches

Next projects:

  • custom mattress covers & sheet sets for Nirvana‘s fore and aft cabins
  • sailcover repairs for Catalina 25
  • tiller cover for Catalina 25
  • design and make custom bags from an old Hunter mainsail that marina-friends Thomas and Monique gifted me
  • new stern-rail seat cushions for Nirvana
  • repairs to Nirvana‘s salon cushions
  • shade cloth rollups for Nirvana‘s bimini

Bring it on!

The next patient in the loft.

Julie and Ryan recently acquired a new-to-them sailboat. It’s an older Catalina 25. It needs some work, so we are helping them get things fixed up. Clever Monte got the outboard motor working. Now he is helping Ryan repair the electrics on-board. Julie brought over the sails, which need some mending. Their mainsail will be my next sail project. It’s in pretty good shape, except where sun damage caused some tears and deterioration where the previous owner left parts of the sail exposed.

A thing from long ago.

Julie has moved back to Austin!  She drove, pulling a trailer full of her things behind her.  When she arrived, she told me that she brought my mom’s sewing machine with her.  It is one of the things that Noreen has been storing for me since mom died.   I was very excited to unpack it.  This is the sewing machine that I learned to sew on.  It is a Montgomery Ward Expert BT long shuttle sewing machine, complete with the original manual, attachments, and storage cabinet.  I have vivid memories of sewing on this machine with my mom when I was a little girl.

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I believe my mom bought this machine before she married my dad.  That would make it at least 65 years old, but may be even older.  I cleaned it, oiled it, threaded it, and took it for a spin.  It works great!  What a solid piece of machinery.

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Many, many thanks to Noreen, Julie, and David for getting this machine to me.

Exchange of DIY ditties.

Monte asked me to make him a mask, since the ones he’s been using are either too small or uncomfortable.  So I finally knocked out my first homemade COVID mask, custom made to his specifications.  🙂

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I then asked him to make me a frame for a piece of art that our niece, Laura, drew and sent to me.  He knocked it out, custom made to my specifications. 🙂  I just LOVE this drawing.  Laura requested people to send her photos of their quarantine workspaces, which she then drew in watercolors.  I sent her a picture of my craft space in my office, which is where I sat to make Monte’s mask.

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Keeping busy in the time of COVID….

 

 

Rainy day project.

I knocked out a quick project today as rain soaked the yard. It’s a bag to hold a 3L boxed-wine bladder. Boats don’t much like things made out of cardboard; roaches do. So we don’t bring cardboard on-board. This bag will hold, hang, and dispense the wine instead, so we can toss the box for recycling. Yes, that’s right, I just ooze class. 🙂

Swing into spring.

I just finished a new canopy cover for my friend, Irene’s, garden swing.  I popped over this morning and we put it on.  Looks great!

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Lofty goals.

We brought home the jib from Nirvana. It has several tears and wear that needs some TLC. I’m setting out to mend this 42′ x 17′ triangular mass of Dacron. Who will win? Stay tuned.

Companions’ cover.

I think I’m on a roll with this boat canvas thing. I made a companionway cover for Marty & Sue’s boat. I love the color. It’s insulated, with a layer of Reflectix between two layers of marine Sunbrella. Stitching it was a bit like wrestling a bear at times, but my new machine handled it well. 🙂