Monthly Archives: August 2012

Sew What?!

Why this blog?
Sew What?! Posted in Magnolia's blog on September 28, 2011 When we talked about buying a sailboat, I thought of warm, clear, blue water and swimming after sailing easily to our next anchorage. Who knew that a boat had so much canvas on board or that the constant motion of the ocean (or Bay) would create chafe or that the sun is fabric’s worst enemy. I had no idea I’d be sewing again. Some of you know that I was a Virginia Tech home economics major who ended up in business operations for a telecom carrier. The five-hour garment construction course in college will now be put back to use (who sews their clothes anymore?) creating and re-creating boat canvas items. Enter my Sailrite sewing machine in August 2010. I think we have now paid for Read more [...]

Sailrite Customer Photo Contest

Projects,
Update:  Bowline Bags didn't win or place 🙁   I do get a hat for entering though.  Thanks to all my friends and supporters for your votes!  Maybe next year. You can see the winners here. ------------------------- Through August 30th Sailrite is hosting its annual customer photo contest.  The winner gets a $250 gift certificate.  Yours truly has entered her Bowline Bags.  These durable tote bags are made from used sails with line tied with bowlines to grommets at the top for handles.  The bags in the contest were made from Jim's Catalina 470 jib that blew out last fall in a hurricane.  In exchange he got two extra large bags with his hull number on each.  I add the hull numbers modeled off sail numbers and made of insignia material Read more [...]

The Seamless Sailor

Why this blog?
It seems to me that there are a lot of sailors who out of necessity or creativity are engineering, patterning, and sewing canvas and other materials to create or replace functional and fun items for their boats.  Are you one of those sailors?  There are great resources on the Internet to help those of us sewing sailors, but I haven’t found a place that collects a broad set of resources in one place especially focused on creating practical canvas items for boating. Nor is there a centralized website that isn’t part of a commercial enterprise to discuss this type of specialty sewing.  I’d like to start that place!  Let’s collect the helpful resources out there, share tips and information, and encourage more self-reliance when it comes Read more [...]