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| Applique |
Jon Burkhardt |
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You know the
"layering appliqué"
method? And do you know how much a
pain it is when trying to
"pick" the layers and get the
right one to cut out? Well, when
Jon stacks his fabric, he throws in an
ordinary "pin" between each
layer. When he is done sewing he
goes to the bump where the pin is and
easily inserts his scissor to remove that
layer. |
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| Applique/
Spray Glue |
Steve Ferrel |
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In response to: How do
I remove Spray Glue from my ripstop
nylon?
In our shop, the solvent of choice is
Bestine, mostly because it easily removes
all adhesive and it evaporates quickly.
However, the solvent I usually use is
regular old paint thinner - mostly
because it is always here and it is
cheap. I've never witnessed it harming
the fabric's coating. Although,
sometimes I find when using thinner, I
have to go over the fabric twice to get
off all the glue..... but this usually
happens only when I use too much spray
adhesive! The secret is in the
application of the spay glue...
Remember this: When adhering two
pieces of ripstop, apply a LIGHT coat of
spray glue to only ONE piece!
Before you stick the two pieces
together, wait. Now this is going
to sound odd, but wait until the glue
dries. After drying, it will still
be sticky! If you feel you need more
tack, apply another LIGHT coat and wait
for it to dry again. Now this
is key.... Usually you use spray glue in
appliqué. And it is used as a
temporary tack while you are sewing.... a
lot of the fabric will eventually be cut
away. Think ahead, spray glue only
the fabric that you will be cutting
away... you see..... when you let the
glue dry before you stick the pieces
together, the glue will stay on the
sprayed piece. It will stick to the
other, but the glue remains on the
sprayed piece... as long as you let it
dry first. So......... if you think
ahead, and if you are smart, when cutting
away the appliqué, you will also be
cutting away the glue. Nothing will
remain to clean up! |
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| Hot Cutting |
Sam Ritter |
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When considering
surfaces to hot cut on, Sam suggests:
"Try a sheet metal top ... I
got a 4x8 sheet from a local
Heating&Cooling shop for about $20 a
few years ago. A nice advantage of
this is that you can use magnets to hold
your patterns down." |
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| Hot Cutting |
Stan Swanson |
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"If you are
using a resin-impregnated fabric such as
Icarex, there is no great advantage to
hot-cutting. using a razor knife
produces a good cut, and fraying is
minimal, even over time. Hot cut
edges will break down over time, leaving
you with the same fraying characteristics
after a few flights. If you use a felled
seam, the edge will never be exposed
anyway. In the 12 years I
manufactured kites, using Icarex,
Stabilkote nylon, Carrington nylon, we
never hot-cut any of our kites, and never
had a fraying problem. If you decide to
cold-cut your panels, it's best to cut on
a material like HDPE (high-Density
Polyethylene) as it preserves the
blades. Cutting on glass will dull
your blades very quickly. If you
cold-cut, you want to cut in one steady,
constant motion, and a dull blade makes
this very difficult." |
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| Sewing |
Brad Norton |
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"I found an
easy way to sew large circles or half
circles. Get the radius of the
circle to make, use a thumb tack and
measure from your sewing needle to the
radius measurement. With wide tape,
secure a thumb tack (point up) onto the
top of your sewing table. The
material is put over the tack and can
then be sewn. When doing large
circles, use spray adhesive to keep the
pieces together or they might pucker at
the end. An eraser can be put over
the tack to keep the material from
slipping off." |
| Sewing |
Steve Ferrel |
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In the "old" days
of fraying ripstop, all seams were
rolled. Today the finishes on the
ripstops allow for exposed edges.
I'd say the double folded or flat fell
seam's are stronger -- but lately, I
haven't seen many seams of any kind fall
apart on a kite, as long as they were
sewn "properly". Take a
look at all the finely appliquéd kites
out there. Most all have cold cut
exposed edges on the front of the kite,
the panels held together just by
overlapping. There are many ways to join
two panels -- the flat fell, the double
fold, the single fold, the single overlap
with or without added tape, and a method
we often use in the shop, the two panels
butted end to end then with an added two
strips of 1/2" or 3/8" ripstop
like sandwiching - sewing down both sides
of the strip. We call it the
modified bobby stanfield method and is
described in detail on our web site. Use
the method that is easiest for you, the
method you can understand and do well.
From a
judges point of view, whichever way you
do your seams, take your time and do them
well. Make it look clean, make sure
your sewing machine's tension is adjusted
properly, and the stitching is not too
tight or to loose, and all ends are tied
off or backstitched.... btw, no need to
back stitch 2 inches, back and forth 16
times. Just go back two or three
stitches twice. And think about the
assembly order, many times the seam from
another panel will cross another sewline
and lock your stitches for you.
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| Sewing |
Steve Ferrel |
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it has been my experience
that the "hemmer foot" doesnt
work very well... however, I know some
people who use them successfully. I
guess it all takes practice... One thing though,
when using these "folder's" you
have to remember that you just don't
start hemming at point
"x". It takes a while to
get going.... Usually hemming panels
larger than you need and then later
cutting them to size. This creates
a problem if you "mess up" in
the middle of a panel.
I do use
and attachment that double folds a 1 inch
ripstop into 1/4"... I find
that the 1.5 oz. works better than the
.75 oz ripstop. Once it is set up,
I sew a bunch of edging together and then
insert the fabric panel.....and then
continuing to sew edging together as I
sew off the panel.... This
technique works well when doing a lot of
straight edges, a quick way to edge bind
a train of Eddy's.
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| Sewing |
Steve Ferrel |
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How do I hold the fabric
together for regular single and double
folded hems? Just crease the fabric
real good with your fingernail.... if ya
dont have one of those then use and old
credit card or the top edge of your
tabletop...... then just hold and sew.
Ripstop kind of holds a crease.
Dont expect to put the pedal to the floor
and sew from begining to end without
stopping (untill you have LOTS of
practice!) Sew a few inches, stop,
realine, then sew some more.
Some would disagree and say its easier to
sew straighter if you dont stop.... which
is prabably true as you gain practice,
but to start, just do a few inches at a
time. Its more important not to
fall off the edge! One trick i
remember using long ago that helped.....
put a few layers of masking tape on the
sewing bed to the right of the needle...
place the tape just beside the edge of
the fabric... the "ledge" that
is formed acts as a guide.......
practice,
practice, practice........then practice
some more.
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| Fighter Kite
Spine |
Ed Shenk |
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How do I make a
"bowed" fighter kite spine? A
highly awarded customer of mine, Ed
Shenk, makes his fighter's with a bowed
graphite spine. He actually splits
a section the linear graphite with a
razor blade, then CA's (super glue) it
back together while it is in a jig
forming the bow. I've seen his kites even
after multiple nose hits to the ground
and the spine holds together..... |
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