Tag: sewing

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. 🙂

Simple favors.

I had a nice visit with Laura today.  When she came over, she brought a pair of exercise bands that she wanted made smaller by a couple of inches.  Frankly, I don’t think I could get one of these over both my arms up to my elbows, but Laura can actually put both her legs in these!

I was pleased to see that my awesome new industrial sewing machine could not only sew through layers of this really thick rubber elastic band material like butter, but the machine’s walking foot just stepped right over the 1/4″ thick rubber label along the way.  I’m thrilled at the big and small projects I’m able now able to do.

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Whatever works.

One of the salon cushions on our Catalina 320 tore along a center seam. I tried mending it once and it just tore again, as the fabric had significantly weakened along the seam. I think the material is Ultrafabric Brisa Original (from around 2005).  I haven’t been able to find a color match yet. It’s just as well, though, as the fabric runs around $65/yard. I’m not ready to reupholster the entire set of salon cushions yet. Soooo, what can I use for a temporary fix?

I decided to repurpose a length of Tear-Aid Type-A tape that I originally got to patch a few holes in our Sunbrella bimini skin. It should adhere well to Brisa’s polyester and rayon backing. It’s not supposed to be sewn-through, but I don’t need a waterproof seal. I simply want to use it to patch along the back-side of the rip and to strengthen and reinforce the area around the tear so I can stitch a new seam through it, about 1/4″ in from the tear.

So I gave it a shot… and I’m happy with the repair.   Now I just need to wait and see how long it holds up.  Fingers crossed!

Before:

 

And after…

If you’re interested, here’s a few pics as I tried the fix.

I removed the cover from the inner cushion pieces, and ripped out the old seam on all 3 pieces of fabric involved in the seam.  The alcohol is to clean the Brisa fabric backing, where I want to apply the Tear-Aid.  The hair dryer is to help me flatten out the old folded seam allowance, and also to help dry the backing after I cleaned it.

Both pieces of Brisa are torn along the old seam.  I’ll need to patch both pieces in a similar fashion before trying to sew a new seam.

Tear-Aid says to clean the application area with alcohol and let dry.  As I cleaned the fabric with alcohol, I saw that the backing material was rotted away in places.   So I removed all the non-adhered backing along the tear.  Not sure how it got in this condition.  Maybe something caustic spilled here and weakened the fabric.  Or maybe 15 years is all you can get out of Brisa.

After cleaning and drying the pieces of Brisa, I used scotch tape on the right side (outside) of the tear to hold the edges of the tear together, temporarily.  I’ll remove it after I apply the Tear-Aid to the wrong side (inside) of the torn fabric.

I cut a length of Tear-Aid Type A tape and applied it on the backing-side of the Brisa fabric along the tears.   Tear-Aid recommends leaving an inch of patch around any torn area, but I didn’t have that much of material along the old seam allowance, so I used a smaller piece than they’d probably recommend.

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I removed the scotch tape from the right-side of the pieces of Brisa, and clipped the right-sides of Brisa together to prepare for stitching the new seam.  This time I’ll sew THROUGH the newly applied Tear-Aid, approx 1/4″ in from the tear along the old seam.

Stitching the seam was a bit challenging, as the adhesive from the patch gummed up the needle every 6 inches or so.  But, as long as I cleaned the needle each time with alcohol, it stitched pretty well.  I used a ballpoint (recommended for Brisa) needle, size 16, and V-69 poly thread, and I also found I had to lower my top thread tension.

There you have it.

Cover-up.

My latest canvas-work project… a cover for the grill off the back of the boat.  Voila!

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Making my own pattern was definitely the hardest part.

If Monte stands around too long in one place, I’ll make a cover for him, too!

In the closet.

Two projects on the long to-do list that I made when I retired were:

1) purge 30 years of paperwork and de-crap the rest of the mess in the closet in my office, and

2) create a workspace in my office closet for my projects like sewing, painting, knitting, beading, photo scanning & editing, etc.

I’m ecstatic to report that I’m crossing them both off today!

I didn’t get a truly before pic. But this is a during pic (all this crap previously filled the closet).

And, (drumroll) this is the after pic:

Many thanks to Monte for building and installing my new desk!

Now I just need to shred the boxes of purged papers and documents…

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