so many things about a boat are custom made. in fact, just about everything is custom made, because every boat - even of the same make - is totally different from any other. most certainly nothing is at all the same as in a house. things either need to be bought specific for your boat (always a slam to the wallet), scavenged, or made yourself.
and you all know how we like to do things our own way.
while aaron has been cracking away at the boat itself, i have been doing more domestic preparations, and that has included a lot of sewing.
my first task was to custom make sheets for the v-berth bed. the cushions fit together in a long triangle shape, which is not your average sheet shape. back in the day we used to just use a regular sheet and stuff the extra edges down under the cushions, which made the edges rise up some. this summer, we are planning to sleep all four of us up there, so every little bit of room counts.
with the cushions pieced together on the living room floor, i took a queen-sized flat sheet and laid it out over top. the kids helped me pin it all along the outer edge of the top of the cushions to hold it in place. i then trimmed off all the extra, leaving a piece that matched the overall footprint of the cushions.
i used the trimmings to piece together a long strip to sew back along the edges of the top piece. sid and sage helped me measure the perimeter of the top to find out just how much length we needed for the side. sage held the tape, i read the numbers aloud, and sid wrote them down. it worked out well, and i had more than enough to make the length i needed.
out came the serger to join the top and edge pieces. i then serged the bottom edge to keep it from dropping fleecy bits (the less fluff on the boat, the better!). using some thrifted elastic, i stretched it and sewed it along the bottom to give the whole thing some stretch. this way it will hug the underside of the cushions and hold the sheet in place while the four of us thrash around... well, here's hoping.
now picture all four of us on here...
my captain tasked me with making us a riding sail - a small sail used while at anchor to stop the boat from swinging around in windy conditions. a task such as this meant moving beyond my domestic sewing machine, as it can't handle sail fabric. fortunately for me, i have a dear friend on the island with multiple industrial sewing machines and all the notions for working with sail cloth - what fun!
we had on hand an old, tiny sail from a sailing dory we bought a few years back (don't ask what happened to the dory). the sail only needed slight cutting down to match the dimensions of a riding sail diagram we found online. i figured the task of modifying the sail as well as doing a small repair to our bimini tarp would only take a few hours, so i cycled over to Sîan's, daydreaming of what i would do with my afternoon when i was done this task.
well, was i ever dreaming!
Sîan and i spent nearly six hours working on the sail and the repair! a portion of that time was definitely spent arguing with the bobbin and running test rows on scrap fabric, but modifying the sail ate up most of our day. Sîan said it would probably have been faster to make a new one... i'm not going to think too hard on it, as i am glad to have upcycled what we had!
drafting up the new lines, working around pre-existing seams and hardware, double-folding hems, re-enforcing corners, and attaching new hardware and fasteners - it was quite the surgery. in the end, thanks to some clever minds and a well-equipped sewing studio, we made a beautiful (if aged) little riding sail.
once that was done, it felt relatively quick to do the re-enforcement job on the tarp. i simply sewed a piece of webbing to either side of the long edge, forming a double row of straight stitches. though the tarp material was awkward to work with, the simple lines made the actual sewing pretty quick and easy, especially with Sîan to guide the material behind me.
black on white... i think it's vogue.
it was surely a blessing and an honour to have Sîan work with me on this project! with her skills and equipment (not to mention her time, and snacks!) this job went smoothly. thank you Sîan for helping put together some valuable pieces of our journey.
next up: sewing a new bug screen and upcycling a wool blanket to make a heat stop for the companionway... and we leave a week tomorrow!
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