As the winter evenings are now well and truly with us, thoughts have turned to new bling for next season - and how we might make some of it ourselves. So while I sit here recovering from three days on board spent whacking my fingers with hammers and inhaling nitromors, my wife is thinking about dusting off the sewing machine and sorting out our anchor locker cover. Photo of the offending article:
Now, we don't have a very smart sewing machine & it won't deal with proper canvas. I'd like to make something in black - does anyone have tips for finding material that can be worked with a sewing machine but is a bit lighter than canvas? An online supplier of small quantities would be ideal.
We've used ebay, particularly to get canvas and neoprene fabrics for boat projects. All have worked with a fairly simple sewing machine. The trick seems to be to use "leather needles" and to change them regularly. The other coment is make sure you get good thread. That was harder to find than the fabric.
Your pic doesn't hint at dimensions, but it looks a fairly basic job. We beg (and sometimes buy) offcuts from the local sail/sprayhood shops, and source our UV resistant thread there too. Does Ardfern have such a facility I wonder (or is there an opening here?)
As long as the machine isn't too plasticky - ie, the needle drive doesn't force open the gap between the shoe and the table, it should be OK with the right needle as Knightvision says (hello and welcome to the blue side Edmund!)
If you're going to make a habit of this kind of work, you may find a nice heavy old Singer (or something similar) in a second hand shop.
It will pay for itself in quite a short time.
http://trooncruisingclub.org/ 20' - 30' Berths available, Clyde.
Cruising, racing, maintenance facilities. Go take a look, you know you want to.
Thanks - needle tips much appreciated. I'll see what the machine can punch through with a decent needle, but I think it's better than the old Singer that was retired last year.
I've no personal experience so please feel free to ignore this but I'm sure I've read that jeans needles are best for this sort of work since leather ones are more likely to cut the threads of the fabric instead of pushing between them.
Right - we're off to get some more robust needles (apparently there's a shop in Stirling) and some UV thread. Arghiro - it's a bad photo, but it is sewn. There is no wooden frame; this is the canvas partition between the forepeak and the cavernous anchor chain locker. It has a wooden batten sewn in at the top but the rest just hangs down and is restrained by the thin bungee.
Shuggy wrote:Right - we're off to get some more robust needles (apparently there's a shop in Stirling) and some UV thread. Arghiro - it's a bad photo, but it is sewn. There is no wooden frame; this is the canvas partition between the forepeak and the cavernous anchor chain locker. It has a wooden batten sewn in at the top but the rest just hangs down and is restrained by the thin bungee.
Gottcha! It's a roller blind. Only without the roller.
Why not take a look in yer local DiY shop to see what's in the slummy box? Could save you a bit of effort.
