Monthly Archives: February 2013

The good linens

A Little List of Linens

Originally published as a guest post on The Boat Galley, February 20, 2013 What linens do you need to provision for use in the galley, clean up, and dining?  While you can buy linens, they may not be exactly what you want or your style.  It's not hard to make your own linens for your boat. Besides it's a great way to save some money.  Practical and self-sufficient. That's the essence of being a Seamless Sailor. Here is a checklist eight types of linens that every Seamless Sailor should consider having in inventory. 1.. Kitchen towels - I like to have plenty of these - a fresh one every day or so depending on how much cooking we are doing.  Any inexpensive bar or kitchen towel will do.  No need to use paper towels all the time.  Read more [...]

Piping – Going the Extra Mile

Piping requires extra time.  No doubt about it.  But it is one of those things in life that is worth the extra effort.  It really makes my pillows and duvet look almost professional.  The captain requested matching piping on the duvet - one way to get a perfect color match.  I grumbled at the work.  Piping for  a queen sized duvet is measured in miles, not feet.  But I took the time to make it.  Luckily the fabric had some give making a bit easier to work with.  I hate it when he is right, which is most of the time.  It looks great.   It wasn't that hard either. Making custom piping - I used a cotton cording 12/32".  The strips of fabric were 2" wide as long as I could make them.  I sewed the sections together at right angles Read more [...]

Pillows

Pillows are an easy sewing project.  They can be very simple or dressed up a bit.  Where would you want to add a bit of color and comfort? Start with your pillow form. What size do you want?  14" is small but cute.  20" is a good larger size. Maybe you want some in between or odd sizes? Joanne's Fabrics and Sailrite offer nice pillow forms.  Do you have serviceable pillows you could recover?  Or do you want a pillow sham that you can stuff with extra linens or clothes?  The captain requested one pillow cover for storing his down coat. What about a pillow made of old sailcloth for cockpit lounging? Are you going to sew in the pillow form or make a cover that you can take off easily?  You can easily make an envelope-style pillow Read more [...]

Cleaning Cowls

OK so this post is a bit off topic.  My Captain does such a good job keeping our topsides looking good that I couldn't stand that those off-white plastic cowls were looking so bad.  I suspect that they had never been cleaned.  And the boat is a 1990! My thought was that this is a project that I can do and would be best done while the boat is under shrink wrap cover this winter.  No problem.  I unscrewed the cowls, marked the screws in little snack zips so I wouldn't lose them and brought the cowls home for  a good soak.  The soaking did nothing except get the first layer of dirt off.  They really were mildewed.  Secret trick:  We took Tilex and a bit of Comet to them with a sponge. The Captain couldn't help himself.  Read more [...]

Fabrics Along the Way

In February 2013 I went into a fun shop at Mongoose Junction in Cruz Bay, St John.  Fabric Mill.  The proprietor had some beautiful batik fabrics and really cute casual clothes.  Wouldn't it be fun to collect fabrics along the way to make interesting souvenirs? http://www.mongoosejunctionstjohn.com/stores/fabric_mill.html Have you found a shop in an interesting place selling interesting fabrics?  Why don't we try to collect names and pictures of fabric stores with unique offerings in our travels? We all know the "big name" stores and they serve a great purpose.  Maybe we could support smaller unique stores as well for unique items.  (I asked the proprietor if I could take this picture and she really appreciated being asked so Read more [...]