Sail patch stitch size

[Greenheart]

I'm putting another reef in my mainsail. I'm lazy of course, so fewer stitches will be easier...

...the question is, how big can I make each stitch without badly weakening the patch?

I expect I've already gone too far, but I'll welcome comments.

My stitches are the first photo, the second shows the sailmaker's work (as if you needed telling).

 

[Poignard]

Presumably you are doing this by hand.

I seem to remember reading that in Nelson's time, ten stitches to the inch was the norm but I may be wrong. Your sailmaker seems to have used 8 or 9 to the inch.

If you copy what he did you won't be far wrong. Notice how his zigzag stitches go very slightly over the edge of the overlap, inside and outside the patch.

 

[jwilson]

I'd have said you need to go a bit smaller. Also definitely double sewn for reefing patches. Are you hemming/turning the patch edges or hot-knife heat-sealing the cut fabric?

 

[Greenheart]

Ouch. I'm sorry I asked. Or, I wish I had before I began. Actually my stitch size is so variable that not all of it needs doing again.

I haven't sealed the edges, nor did I think to hem them...but the reef patches I did the same way in 2013 show no signs of fraying.

This mainsail is so elderly that I doubt the patches will degrade sooner than the whole thing splits in the middle, but I'm grateful for the comments. :encouragement: