Stitch Up!! - What to use

Depends on the size of the sail. You would of course be using waxed twine and a sail makers needle. You should be able to pick these up from any good chandlers or sail makers. Also try to use as small a needle as you can as people generally tend to make the stitching holes bigger unnecessarily by using needles that are too big. Have a look at a book on sail repair if you want to pick up some tips. I have one lying around but just can't remember the name.
 
I use strong white terylene thread & a darning needle with palm (sail needles are generally much too big). Follow the existing needle holes with double thread. At the end of the damaged area, turn & stitch back the opposite way. This will mean that the stitches interleave & will look like machine stitches, but will be stronger due to the doubled thread.

Gawd, that's hard to explain, but dead simple to do. In effect stitching one way you go up one hole, down the next, coming back you come up the ones that you previously went down etc etc. It looks like a continuous line of stitches when finished.
 
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Depends on the size of the sail. You would of course be using waxed twine and a sail makers needle. You should be able to pick these up from any good chandlers or sail makers. Also try to use as small a needle as you can as people generally tend to make the stitching holes bigger unnecessarily by using needles that are too big. Have a look at a book on sail repair if you want to pick up some tips. I have one lying around but just can't remember the name.

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Yes, very good advice.

Also, the limiting factor in using as small a needle as you can is threading through the eye. Threading gizmo's from a sewing shop makes things a lot simpler . They cost about 50 pence each. Try and use the same holes in the cloth as before. It's much easier.

Have fun. It's very satisfying. Why should the girls have all the fun ?
 
Polyester thread. Heat sealed. Try to get a small spool if possible. Barbour is a very good brand but the cones that I have are some 5000 metres long! Too big unless you are using an industrial machine. I'm sure that you can find small spools though. Waxed thread usually has too much twist in it for my liking.

For your sail the size to ask for would be V90 or equivalent. If it's just for some scattered broken stitches, i.e. to be done by hand, try to get as small a needle as possible. Very difficult to find a proper sailmakers' needle that small; use a darning needle instead. But first get your thread so that you can choose a needle that will just pass the thread through the eye.

Try to use the same holes, plucking the old thread as you go along. Then repeat in the other direction to complete the zig-zag. Do NOT pull too much; just enough to draw the stitch snug but not tight. If you wish, you can draw the thread over a lump of wax after you thread the needle, though not really necessary for such a repair.

If the seam is gone completely, try to get some double-sided tape to hold the fabric in place. If the stitching is in an awkward place, say the middle of the sail, some people work as a pair with one person pushing the needle through the hole and the partner pulling from the other side.

It is not difficult once you get the hang of it and can be quite therapeutic but do watch your fingers as blood stains can be bloody difficult to remove. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
All the respondents assume that you want to hand stitch your genoa seems. However if the sail cloth is not too heavy you may be able to use a domestic sewing machine. In this case the thread you use will be dictated by the max size of thread the machine can handle. I use a polyester thread described as upholstery thread. It is somewhat thicker than ordinary sewing thread.
The domestic machine will handle a few layers of sail cloth for a smallish boat. You have to maximise the foot pressure to stop it lifting as the needle comes out.
Be aware that too many stitch holes can weaken the cloth so have widely spaced stitches and tie off the ends of the thread.
good luck olewill
 
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There's a brilliant Australian gadget called the Stitch It Awl which makes double-sided hand-stitching very easy to do neatly. Look on http://www.stitchitawl.com/

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NO, no, no!!!!

They say "It is also stronger as the stitch forms an interlocking chain. "

If I understand it correctly, it does NOT form a proper lock-stitch, i.e two threads, one on each side and interlocking with each other, nor is it like the two threads that form a stitch when gone over twice (up one way, down the other) as described previously.

What this forms is a chain stitch which is something totally different. It consists of a series of interlocking loops, using only one thread. As soon as one stitch breaks, there is nothing to prevent the rest of the stitching from unravelling.

As such it has no place on a sail; apart from the fact that the diameter of the 'needle' is larger by far than that of a needle that is used on a sail for a 26-footer! At a guess I would say that it would be equivalent to the diameter of a toothpick or a matchstick.


stitch.jpg


Edited to illustrate single-thread chain stitch, Federal Stitch type 101. Pulling the thread from the left-hand end will unravel the seam.
 
For small sailmaker's needles get them from William Smith & Son in Redditch; they make the finest sailmaker's needles in the world.

Suggest you get No. 19. They're very fine.
 
Sorry to have to disagree, but that's not correct. I don't know about all such sewing gadgets, but the Stitch-it-awl does not make a chain stitch. The row of stitching is started by drawing a length of thread through the material and sewing proceeds by using the needle to push a loop through the fabric and then manually threading the end of the thread on the other side through the loop. This makes a lock stitch and is basically a manual sewing machine. I've used one of these tools for a long time on many jobs and it is indispensible.
 
Best is waxed to resist weather - available in most chandlers with needles to suit, but often a sail is stitched with unwaxed thread.
You can buy spools in a chandlers or go to a carpet shop and buy similar thread as well as needles that are curved. That curve once mastered makes stitching easier as then you can work blind without having to get to back of sail. Obviously near edges / joints of panels you need a palm and stornger needle to push through. My way was to stitch such areas with normal sailmakers gear separately. Then take lighter carpet needle and stitch the lighter sections ....

Tip - when buying needles best come in an oiled wax paper packet. They are mild steel. Yes you can buy fancy yottie stainless or in fancy packaging - but best are still the old ones. Don't throw away the wax oiled packet but try to keep them in it. Wipe off needle with tissue before use ....
Oil keeps them from corroding. These older style keep their points better as sewing canvas etc. is actually very hard on the needles.

My 2p worth anyway ...
 
Agree with TG29.
The beauty of the awl (if it's the one I've seen) is the spool in the handle which auto feeds the thread for one side.
The other side is a separate thread put through the loops but it MUST be on the correct (bobbin) side of the needle, then tensioned to hide the crossover in the cloth.
I used a large sewing machine needle screwed onto an old screwdriver (using a large two-screwed electrical connector)succcessfully for this job.
The result is the same as a sewing machine gives.
Just make sure the thread is UV resistant, and try not to leave it proud of the material if possible, to avoid chafe.
 
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