Interior refit 1970's kit sailboat questions

[wingless]

My experience w/ that attachment was not good, so I discontinued usage.

For precise small cuts, I use the "pizza wheel" on the grid mat.



For everything else I use the hot knife on a resilient surface. For large stuff I have a retired closet door skinned w/ a mirror. For smaller stuff I have the bottom side of a retired composite table, even though it leaves burn marks. On HUGE stuff I occasionally cut on my tile floor, but ended up w/ a small permanent mark, now covered by the latest flooring.

Cutting on mirror:

[Spot]

Thanks for the pics WL. I will try a project without the shoe and see how it goes. I have one of those cutting mats going on 30 years but never have had a rotary cutter.

I did some sewing today, and some seam ripping, and some more sewing.

I thought I'd get into the zipper plaques before I started work. Sewing machine out, iron on low, ready to go as the sun rose at minus something ridiculous cold.

I led off with sewing the basting to cut and splay for the zipper about 1/8" (3.2mm) too narrow. No worries, run another line of stitching, rip out old, cut, and iron flat. Unbox my new zipper foot and install. The first zipper went in OK, good enough for the likes of me, so I assured myself. I worked for a while and went to sew the other while on 'break'...

The second one was a wreck. The stitches wandered and ended up pulling the fabric off the top of the zipper. I finished the work day and decided to take it all apart, 57" (1.5m), each side of the zipper. I came to the conclusion that I ran the needle too close to the teeth pulling the fabric off the center line.

I used the control on the machine to shift the needle from far left to far right. I placed 1/2 of the plaque on top of the zipper where it should have been and slowly stitched it back on, keeping the fold on top of the zipper until it reached the foot. Results were favorable so I did the other side, then decided to rip and resew the first plaque as it now looked bad compared to the reworked one. I turned on some music, sat in a window with bright sunshine, and took out the stitching on the first assembly.

Three 80's songs to rip apart, two more to sew together. worth it on multiple levels. I am happy with the results, I did not have to cut new pieces, and I got to decompress from work. Then I vacuumed up 100's of ripped and/or cut threads and sorted out the dining room for dinner. Next step is to install the zipper pulls and finish the plaques with some plain boxing on each end and then I can try to assemble.

[wingless]

Looking good.

A top stitch foot, like shown here, is VERY handy to attaining a good line when nothing else exists to follow an edge.

[Spot]

Hi WL, I saw the old threads with the enclosure and dinghy cover, very nice work. I am nowhere near ready to sew lined covers with Strataglass, continually-used zippers, and other hardware.

I messed up again. My boxing is 4.5" (114mm) and my plaques are 4" (102mm).
-The boxing would sew down to 3.75" finished with a 3/8" seam allowance (95mm and 9mm)
-The plaques would be 3.25" finished with the same 3/8" allowance (82mm and 9mm)

I also have an issue where I did not take into account all of the seam allowances to finish the ends of the zipper plaques, which will mean an additional small patch piece 4-6" (100-150mm) wide at one end of the zipper plaques. I was going to do this anyways but was hoping to halve some existing pieces. If I halve those alone I will be short by 4x the seam allowance and a couple inches. Had I made the zippers 3" (76mm) longer I might have squeaked by but risked showing a little of the edges where the printed pattern stops.

My choices seem to be: rework again, make new, or attempt to sew as-is and accept the result. There are Sailrite videos that show zipper plaques being cut just to foam+zipper width and no seam allowance, the Sailrite fabric calculator seems to add for zipper and seam allowance and always assumes foam is oversized. I could be worried about nothing too, but it seems like the 1/2" (13mm) night cause issues. Since the front does not have boxing, I was hopping the side boxing would set and square up the shape. I suppose I could sew in the plaques as-is first, making a tube, and then trim the boxing to fit the ends and let it rip.

[wingless]

Too bad about the mistake(s).

If you start again, one thing I noticed is that the panel edges are not straight. My speculation is that will result in a bad final result.

That clear grid ruler, from the prior reply, is what I used extensively through my projects.

A pattern was created, then that ruler was used to add and subtract from the pattern, for things like my full felled seams and the like.

Good luck w/ the next steps.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by wingless

Too bad about the mistake(s).

If you start again, one thing I noticed is that the panel edges are not straight. My speculation is that will result in a bad final result.

That clear grid ruler, from the prior reply, is what I used extensively through my projects.

A pattern was created, then that ruler was used to add and subtract from the pattern, for things like my full felled seams and the like.

Good luck w/ the next steps.

Thanks WL.

I made some new plaques today with an extra 1/2" to start and now I am back in the game. Four slices off the end of the new piece (one to square and three to cut) of fabric and 2 more lengths zipper tape. I tried to stay aware of the accuracy of the cuts. Such a ruler would be nice.

Next ? will be the order of assembly. I have a 'soft shell taco' of top and bottom plate with integral boxing. Should I do the zipper plaque first or start on the ends? Do the top side seam all three additional pieces to the 'taco' then bottom side? My choices for patterning put me in between boxed and unboxed construction methods.

[wingless]

Looks good.

Not having made cushions before, I would sew the side panels into a cylinder, then sew to the top, then to the bottom, all inside out, then reverse through the zipper to right side out and stuff with the foam.

There is probably an excellent video on the Sailrite site for those operations.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by wingless

Looks good.

Not having made cushions before, I would sew the side panels into a cylinder, then sew to the top, then to the bottom, all inside out, then reverse through the zipper to right side out and stuff with the foam.

There is probably an excellent video on the Sailrite site for those operations.

My cushion plan was halfway between a normal cushion with 6 distinct pieces sewn together and one of the '30 minute box cushion' which can be cut from one piece of fabric. there are videos for each of those but none tailor-made (sorry ) for my situation that I saw. Since the back of mine is curved I was not able to do the quick-and-easy 1-piece method. But I did see a chance to join top and front edge and bottom into one single piece so I had (2) less long seams to show on the most visible edge. These are not beveled, allowing them to be reversible, per an early suggestion from Wingless.

I decided to start with the two ends , and started sewing from the middle of the front edge toward the back. Once the two ends were sewn on three sides, I started with the zipper plaque. I started on the wide end (more visible) and sewed towards the feet on both curve seams. My plaque was about 6" too long (intentional) so I trimmed it to fit once I got to the end.

So in words to match the sketch: Align A, sew 1 and 2. Align B, sew 3 and 4. Align C, sew 5,6 and 7. Align D, sew 8. Cut off extra 9.

I am happy with the results. It's a little clumsy inserting the foam without a full zipper but a few more tugs on the cover after I took the pictures had it sitting quite nicely. Rather than hurry through the second one I am saving it for tomorrow after work.

[Spot]

I got the second cushion cover assembled. Second one was easier and faster than the first. The hardest part was the second-to-last long seam on the zipper plaque. I wanted the plaques on top so I could chase them around the curved edges. On one side this was 'outside' the throat like normal, on the last ones it was 'inside' so I had to mind the cloth more going through the machine.

[wingless]

Great job on the cushions and on documenting the process. Looks great.

[LittleWing77]

REALLY super, Spot!!!

I'm so impressed! I know you probably will anyway, but please post pics of the cushions in-cabin at some point. That's what I'm itching to see next.

ATCowboy is at the beginning of this phase of interior refurbishment on his Cape Dory 27? 28? and has just located the fabric he wants to use, so I sent him a link to this thread. I think it's going to be helpful.

(I'm surprised that following this has made me feel eager to sew something and I don't much like sewing...)

[Spot]

Thanks WL and LW77.

I will definitely post in-situ pictures. Until I fix all the leaks (portlights and deck fittings) the cushions will not be permanently in the boat. I also put a pic over on ATCowboy's thread too. LW77, please let us know what you end up making...

There is something about sewing- turning flat stuff into shapes, making things custom fit, colors, patterns, saving money, not having to wait for anything to dry or cure...One of my aunts had a sewing room with a couple machines, 100's of spools of thread, and boxes of fabric. I never really worked on anything with her but it opened my mind to possibilities. Another aunt made clothes for Barbie Dolls and GI Joes. They all quilted, decades before there were machines made for that purpose. They had 'bees' where they would gather and socialize and work as a group to bat and stitch and knot the semi-finished quilts.

What to do next? I could order fabric and foam for the v-berth, I could finalize plans and order parts for the electrical system, I could try to pattern out and make the cabinets for the galley...having been so cold outside I have not been thinking of in-boat work. We are above 8F (-13C) today and should be close to or above freezing for daytime temps by next week.

[wingless]

With those arctic temperatures, inside work is in order.

For what's next, do patterns already exist for the V berth?



Note that the side cushions will need a slight side gap at the head hatch (covered by the removable head cushion) to not interfere w/ the hatch. Those cushions probably also need the edge at the forward part of the head hatch to be slightly forward, to permit the hatch to remain open.

Suggest same plan, making identical to permit flipping sides for ~2X the life.

[Spot]

Originally Posted by wingless

With those arctic temperatures, inside work is in order.

For what's next, do patterns already exist for the V berth?

Note that the side cushions will need a slight side gap at the head hatch (covered by the removable head cushion) to not interfere w/ the hatch. Those cushions probably also need the edge at the forward part of the head hatch to be slightly forward, to permit the hatch to remain open.

Suggest same plan, making identical to permit flipping sides for ~2X the life.

I do have rosin paper patterns of the v-berth, I have not looked at them to see if I can get away with symmetrical yet.

[wingless]

If the V berth is not symmetric, such as the aft port edge being larger than the starboard, then it might be possible to attain symmetric side cushions by having the removable head cushion have a larger overlap onto one side.