Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1993 08:27:12 -1000 From: jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) Message-Id: <29un60$9ug@umd5.umd.edu> Organization: University of Maryland at College Park Subject: Legs I recently got a copy of the Legs pattern as published in a German book and I've got a couple of questions that I hope might be answered either by someone who's built the kite or perhaps has the plans and reads German more competently than I do (which wouldn't take much...I don't speak any. ;-) Someone who has a set of Legs might also offer a thought or two... The plans are rather straightforward (particularly since they include full-scale patterns!). My questions are these: 1) are there any hints in the text about how one goes about attaching the finished legs to the finished body? The drawings definitely imply that one builds the legs and then builds the body and then sticks them together. It seems like the seams between the legs and the body would be rather awkard even though it's not sewn all the way around. What happens to the loose end of the leg and the trailing edge of the body where they're not joined; are they supposed to be bound, hemmed, or left loose? 2) Is there any order listed for sewing the foot together and attaching it to the leg? Do the two sides get sewn to the leg before or after they're sewn together? Do they get sewn together before or after they get sewn onto the bottom of the shoe? It's my guess that the vertical seam at the heel of the shoe is the last done and that it's sewn at the same time that the last seam of the legs are done. Or is it the other way around? The sides are sewn to the bottom, joined at the back, and then the last seam down the center top of the shoe is sewn? I'm so confused! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Jeff (who's made four flowforms so far and who now thinks he might actually own one (or a variant there-of) of his own!) -- |Jeffrey C. Burka | "When I look in the mirror, I see a little clearer/ | |SAFH Lite [tm] | I am what I am and you are you too./ Do you like | |jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu | what you see? Do you like yourself?" --N. Cherry | = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Tue, 19 Oct 1993 22:31:22 -1000 From: era_pul@ki.ericsson.se (Peter Ulfheden ) Message-Id: Organization: Ericsson Radio Systems AB, Sweden Subject: Re: Legs In article <29un60$9ug@umd5.umd.edu> jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) writes: > The plans are rather straightforward (particularly since they include > full-scale patterns!). > > My questions are these: > NOTE: I have not made these legs. What I describe here i not neccesarily what the plans mention, rather the way *I* should try to do it. > 1) are there any hints in the text about how one goes about attaching the > finished legs to the finished body? The drawings definitely imply that one > builds the legs and then builds the body and then sticks them together. It > seems like the seams between the legs and the body would be rather awkard > even though it's not sewn all the way around. If you first turn the leg inside out and put the shorts inside the leg, you will have no problems making that seam. > What happens to the loose > end of the leg and the trailing edge of the body where they're not joined; > are they supposed to be bound, hemmed, or left loose? > The plan just mentions a seam to reinforce the edge and the corners of the opening, I would recommend putting a piece of binding tape on those edges too. > 2) Is there any order listed for sewing the foot together and attaching it > to the leg? Do the two sides get sewn to the leg before or after they're > sewn together? Do they get sewn together before or after they get sewn > onto the bottom of the shoe? It's my guess that the vertical seam at the > heel of the shoe is the last done and that it's sewn at the same time that > the last seam of the legs are done. Or is it the other way around? The > sides are sewn to the bottom, joined at the back, and then the last seam > down the center top of the shoe is sewn? I'm so confused! OK, after you have sewn the legs to the shorts, make the shoes. Turn the leg inside out through the shorts. Put the shoe inside the leg, align the edge of the leg to the edge of the shoe and sew it together. > > Any help would be greatly appreciated. > Hope this helps and not the other way around ;-) Tight Line(s) Peter -- []-------------------------------------------------[] | Peter Ulfheden | era_pul@ki.ericsson.se | | Amorinav. 3 | or petulf@saaf.se | | S-191 44 Sollentuna | Phone: +46 8 751 02 15 | | SWEDEN | Fax: +46 8 35 04 29 | []-------------------------------------------------[] = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Date: Mon, 8 Nov 1993 03:51:00 -1000 From: andrew@tug.com (Andrew Beattie) Message-Id: Organization: /usr/lib/news/organisation Subject: Re: Legs Quite some time ago, (Jeffrey C. Burka) wrote: >I recently got a copy of the Legs pattern as published in a German book and >I've got a couple of questions... > >1) are there any hints in the text about how one goes about attaching the >finished legs to the finished body? > >2) Is there any order listed for sewing the foot together and attaching it >to the leg? Having Natalies legs to hand, I wanted to help, but was unsure of Martin's position (What book? Were they published with his permission?), so I replied only by Email. Martin was off globe-trotting again, so it took a while to get his OK. Everything is above board and Martin is happy, so here are some extracts from the Email for everyone's benefit. [My Email contains extracts from Jeffy which I should ask permission before quoting but I'm running out of Political Correctness :-) ] [Andrew hopes than no-one is looking as he peers up natalie's leg] The leg is sewn to the bum from the front of the crotch (just down from the central riser) round the outside of the upper thigh, to a point half-way across the buttock, level with a riser. (ie: it is sewn all the way across the front and half-way across the back.) Looking at the hems, I think that the seam from the front of the ankle down the top of the foot to the toe is left unsewn. The leg is also left unsewn at the front when the foot is attatched to the leg. This leaves one seam >From the toe tight up the front of the leg to join it all together. [new message] > >The leg is sewn to the bum from the front of the crotch (just down from the > >central riser) round the outside of the upper thigh, to a point half-way > >across the buttock, level with a riser. (ie: it is sewn all the way across > >the front and half-way across the back.) > > That's what the plans show. Is it a flat seam or a folded seam? I guess > I'm just worried about the difficulty of sewing a folded seam on an > already-closed-up-leg and bum. Maybe it won't be nearly as hard as I'm > expecting. Oops. You got that slightly wrong. The leg and bum is only hemmed for the portion which is an edge in the finished kite. Where the leg and bum join, the leg and bum have not been hemmed, but rather joined in a simple seam. [new message] > Nope, I had that right; I just didn't express it clearly. I understand > that the inner, back "thigh" is left unsewn (this is what helps create the > standard FlowForm venting in the back). What I wasn't clear on is what you > refer to as a "simple seam." Is that a folded seam or a flat seam (like > what you see on, say, a Big Brother)? Hmm... when I was writing, I used "hem" to mean when you take the edge, fold it over and sew it in place, to avoid a raw edge (nothing fancier on Natalie) and seam for where two pieces are joined together. All seams are very simple (I don't know the name): take two pieces of fabric, lay them face to face, run the machine with a straight stitch 1/4" >From the edge and open out. Nothing more. (Never noticed the work on a BB) [new message] > The kite looks great and drew a constant stream of comments from the > passers by along the Mall. Have you ever seen the 3 specials that he made (Ooops - I should acknowledge that Natalie herself did most of the work). They had fishnets and better frills on the nickers. The fishnets were made by labouriously sewing a grid of straight stitching on the legs! They looks great, but are a little heavy to fly. They were so much work that she refused to make any more! > It does seem to have some problems with being skittish, though, and would > occasionally turn loops and sometimes even dive to the ground. I don't > know if you've ever had to do any tuning on Natalie's Legs (particularly in > moving the towpoint up or down the harness string connecting the two sets > of bridles), but if so, are there any criteria you go by? How stable is > the kite ordinarily? As I recall, the difference between the the bridles is about one hand-width. Note that unusually, the front bridle is longer than the rear. You should be able to hold the loop in your hand and adjust it by feel - it's not that critical. When it's very windy, martin adjusts the megga-legs so that they are basically only flying by the front bridle! In less wind, yank in the rear to get more pull - all basic stuff. She does like a fairly long line to and a fairly stiff breeze to fly well. > Also, what test line do you fly the Legs on? In silly wind (hand-held off the back of a boat), I burst a seam without breaking my 50lb dacron. Andrew -- Work: gaffer@rec.com Phone: +44 793 614 110 Fax: +44 793 614 297 Play: andrew@tug.com Phone: +44 256 464 912 Car: +44 831 527 614 Interested in kite traction? mail kites@tug.com = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =