K31 - Essentials S #3

This is a Christmas gift for a close friend, and it is the first kite built since moving into a new house. Tried some new things:

• Added shiny bits to the center panel - inspired by Lam Hoac
• Tried using hot-tacking instead of tape for the interior seems. It worked ok, but I feel like only 10-20% of the hot-tacks actually held by the time I sewed over them. Ended up with lots of masking tape on top of it. The absense of glue is nice on my machine though.
• Tried using a different method for rolling the mesh onto the sail. This doesn't seem to be as accurate as my previous method, but it does use less tape which is better for my machine. I think I just need to improve on this new process a bit. Ended up with a bit too much fabric below the center of the leading edge.
• Changed the way that I cut holes in the leading edge for the T-fittings. Cut two small circles on either side of the fitting sort of like how Dual Lines usually work. Don't think I like this. If I make the holes too far apart, the fitting could slide. If I make them closer together, it's really tight and hard to push rods though. Don't think I'll continue to do it this way.
• I started using a zig-zag stitch on the in-sail reinforcements (bottom triangles, wear strips). I think this works out nicely.

Since this is the first kite built in the new house, I found that my template wasn't quite right. It's about 0.5 inch too short, and about 1.5 inches too narrow. Adjusted my template accordingly.