K122 - Escape #17
This is a custom built vented Escape, based on the plans from Ulzburger kites and my vented plans. This was ordered as sail-only, so I don't have pictures of it all framed up at the moment.
edit: Sail has ben received and framed, and photos have been added
Prep
It took me a while to get my hands on the blue and green Ottertex, so I did a lot of prep up front. I assembled what parts of the sail I could, then also pre-cut the trailing edge, leading edge, reinforcement, etc so that once I got the fabric, I could just stick things together and sew. With this prep, I was able to finish the build in only about 4 hours after getting the missing material.
Sewing Machine
This is just my third kite built with my Bernette B77, and the first build since I've gotten a new sewing table and done some rearranging of my shop. So, I'm still getting comfortable with everything, and I think this surfaces in the build a bit.
I found that the Bernette is very picky about the bit of thread dangling off the bobbin, and this resulted in some brief moment of over-tensioning on the bottom. Clipping the dangling thread seems to have mitigated this.
The other issue that I found was some inconsistent stitch length. I'm attributing this to my table set up. I want to get a piece of plexi-glass to get a bigger surface, that will be flush with my main table. That way, the sail can be more stable sitting in the machine on its own, and it may be easier to let the machine pull the fabric through on its own.
Cover up
I did make a mistake near the end when I do a zig-zag in between the openings on the leading edge. I did the zig-zag in the wrong place. I ended up covering it up with some reinforcement that I think could be justified, so hopefully this just looks intentional. This was certainly better than starting over.
