Its been a long while since I’ve done any worjk on the big kite, so I’m pleased to be getting stuck into the sewing again as a break from studying.  We’re now almost up to the point of joining on the last 40 pieces of fabric, which I totally amazed by, as it seems to have been so quick to get to this point from having the centre sections done and the “B” panels attached.  Thoughts are now turning to spars, bridling etc., and we are now researching the best way to do it, and the best places to buy the parts we need.  10mm tube is difficult to come by in the lengths we need in the UK so we may end up sourcing it from another country, possibly the USA.  We know for certain that the centre hub is only available either as a special one-off manufacture (thanks for the offer Dad!) in this country, or ready made by mail order from America.  The Double Star kite seems to have a very big following over there and there is a supplier who saw the demand and made the part to sell especially to all the DS builders.  Even with postage costs this may be the cheaper option, and easier for all concerned (I can almost hear the sigh of relief now!).

It looks like we finally perfected the method of joining with the aid of double side tape.  After discovering that the sewing machine(s) really didn’t like it, we found that if we stuck the pieces together before sewing the straight seem, we could then remove the tape before sewing zig zag stitch over the raw edges.  Doing this with three pieces of fabric together was quite easy, when we progressed to four layers things got a little more difficult - but we’re getting there!  This is good news just ahead of our kite club’s festival, as we can now report progress should anyone enquire.

 

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