Trick to sewing ripstop

[Michael Marmaras]

Building a stunt kite seemed intimidating to me but went all in expecting very little. First no pattern just scetch an outline on cardboard and cut away. Forget about all the talk about bias of fabric aligning properly  Heard expert about importance of fsdric edge align ment and not very much impact on performance.  Grab some spars good fabric and like me improvise on connectors and fittings.  Tubing plastic clothes changers  s.o. etc. My first looked unprofessional but flew way better than I could have imagined  It is fun and rewarding plus save a lot of  money.  Try it not much to loose.  Sew away. Michael marmarasmichael@gmail.com

[Michael Marmaras]

Tension almost all the way toward taut mine 8. Using both hands keep outward pressure on area all around the foot don't pull through let machine do feeding.  Make life easier with all difficult fabric  ie stretch knit, by using a walking foot I can't sew with out it.  After every thing is set up properly don't readjust   That's my 2 cents on this. Sew away then FLY AWAY. Michael marmarasmichael@gmail.com

[riffclown]

22 hours ago, Michael Marmaras said:

 Forget about all the talk about bias of fabric aligning properly  Heard expert about importance of fsdric edge align ment and not very much impact on performance. 

From Experience, Alignment of Fabric bias is only "not an issue" until it is.. For Fabrics like Icarex, it's much less of an issue but when Ripstop (RSN) gets wet and starts stretching, those alignments matter because the stretch is uneven along the biases. It doesn't take too long to get the bias of the fabric aligned in most cases so IMO it's worth it in the long run. At a minimum, your bias alignment should match on the mirrored panels so when stretching does occur, it does so somewhat evenly.

FWIW, I've probably played with the bias and mismatching of fabrics as much as anyone (more for refractive purposes than stretch) and I'll take the extra time to align the biases every time.

I've also never used a walking foot but that's a different conversation..

[Michael Marmaras]

Hi Riffclown. That was a very informative and thought out response You enlighted me to reasons that step is important and like you said not much more work for the benefit  I just started sewing only antique singer from yard sale. Replace tension spring work ok. I didn't understand about the refractive part . I see the stretch issue I'll will pay closer attention to alignment because a lot of time invested in build. Do you make many? Love any input no pattern on first 2 just looked at some kiteplans.org and went to town turned out to trick well in good hands not mine!  Using the same clx 150 rods on quad. Think middle center should be a little stronger.  Looked at Fulcrum details and all 3 versions seem to use stiffer center.  Kit an kite andfunthings great prices has quad kits for rev1.5 all same size cxl 150-350. Any input appreciate! Thanks again  Michael marmarasmichael@gmail.com

[riffclown]

 

I use the Refractive properties of the fabric to control how the panels flash.. These first two videos are using offset directions so the individual panels flash is a sequence. 

 

This kite is made of both Ripstop and poly.. Notice the Shimmer effect.

And this is what happens when you align everything. The Whole panel flashes at the same time..

 

[riffclown]

16 hours ago, Michael Marmaras said:

Do you make many?

A Few

 

 

[riffclown]

FWIW, The Sewing Machine I've used for the big majority of these kites is a cheap Brother SM2700 that I only use to sew kites.. Very pleased with the results for a $100 sewing machine..