Sail-making

[BigBad]

Hi guys and gals!

I’m a relative novice and I’m learning to make sails. My problem is that I’m trying to get a slight “bowing” of my sails to simulate wind-filled sails on my schooner. I used a roll of a plastic “foam” as a base (as a form then covering it with wax paper and the airbrushing a light application of white acrylic paint on them and let them dry hoping they would stiffen up and achieve the proper curve but after they dried they were still limp and it didn’t work.

I was thinking of applying dilute white PVA glue with a paint brush and letting it dry on the form but I don’t want to mess it up.

Can anyone advice me of a good technique?

 

[Y.T.]

You can try wetting the sail canvas and blowing hair drier on it till it is dry. Sail must be attached to its yard and bottom clews must be held by the sheet ropes like on real ship to produce proper wind blowing effect. Do it on separate fixture instead of your model.

 

[BigBad]

With all due respects YT,I don’t think I like that.

 

[Y.T.]

Why not?

 

[John McQuaid]

I am rebuilding a Swift pilot schooner, decided to add sails as part of the rebuild. I purchased a product recommended by a guy on utube I think it's called stiffey, he described it as basically watered down white glue it worked well on my lobster smack. I will try to post some photos as soon as I have them mounted. They need sewed onto the booms which tends to take me a while.

 

[DARIVS ARCHITECTVS]

Hi guys and gals!

I’m a relative novice and I’m learning to make sails. My problem is that I’m trying to get a slight “bowing” of my sails to simulate wind-filled sails on my schooner. I used a roll of a plastic “foam” as a base (as a form then covering it with wax paper and the airbrushing a light application of white acrylic paint on them and let them dry hoping they would stiffen up and achieve the proper curve but after they dried they were still limp and it didn’t work.

I was thinking of applying dilute white PVA glue with a paint brush and letting it dry on the form but I don’t want to mess it up.

Can anyone advice me of a good technique?

I can help with that since I make 17th century models and the sails of that period were more billowed than the flatter, 19th century sails. You start by selecting the right material. Most fabrics that are weaves have little to no stretchability. Knits have lots of flexibility, mostly in one axis, but are fuzzy and as such don't look much like sail material. T-shirts are made from fine knit material, for example.

You need a weave that has an elastic material built into it, a good example of which is stretch cotton sateen fabric. I bought some white fabric, the last two yards they had at JoAnn's Fabric store, but decided it was too bright and may not take a stain evenly, leaving bright areas, so I kept hunting for the right material. Sails are NOT white. I found the same sateen fabric on Etsy.com, but in ivory color. Perfect! It has the right amount of tan color to start with. The fabric has the same properties that Olha Batchvarov uses in her sail making techniques video. It has no stretch in one direction, but has a little stretch in the perpendicular direction. The fabric is 97% cotton and 3% spandex, and has a fairly tight weave. With the stretchy direction laid in the horizontal direction, you make your sails. After making the sails on the sewing machine, stitch on the bolt rope and form cringles, the sails need to be stretched on a stretching jig while wet with starch, and allowed to dry in the billowed shape that you want. The feel like stiff parchment and hold their shape. Here are detailed instructions on how I made custom sails: Link

Here is the final result.

 

[BigBad]

YT, I said that I didn’t like the idea of just setting and blow drying the sails because I feel that they wouldn’t keep their shape but I certainly will try it. Thanks so much for responding and trying to help me out!

 

[BigBad]

Darivs Architectvs, thanks for your excellent response! I never thought of using starch my mom and grandma did when ironing shirts etc. I must have brain rot. I certainly will try it. I’ll also try commercial fabric stiffener- I didn’t even know there was such a thing.

Also, thanks for the link to Olha’s sailmaking video. I like the idea of using sugar or other heavy powder or granular stuff in a plastic bag as a weight to achieve the curvature. I used a piece of foam matting and it was ok but of course only worked in one axis.

Btw, the model in your photos looks amazing. Wow!