I have pictures! And a summery! For some reason the fins look great in the picture but the perfectionist inside me can pick out every little mistake in reality. I guess you could say they are growing on me. ;) I have decided to just move forward and not worry about the paint. Summer is almost over I have got to get this done! I have been swimming in my monofin all year long and that has taken up some of my time as well. Like Ciriun said I can just make another one after I have more experience. Thank you. I think I just have a lot of anxiety this time of year getting everything ready to go back to school and my family has been fighting a lot lately. None the less the fins are looking good.
I mentioned earlier that I had some problems sewing …show more content…
I encourage you to Test! Test! Test! To see what works best for you. You may even create your own method. Cut the zip ties to your desired length and shape using a pair of strong pliers/ wire cutters. For the smallest fins I sewed with the fabric inside out forming almost a V shape with the two seams on the sides. I left a large enough hole on the tip of the V to turn the fabric right side out. Then pin the zips in place. If possible avoid creating inside seams by cutting the pattern on a folded piece of fabric with the fold in place of an inside seam. This helps you avoid having the remaining seam allowance slide around on the top of the zip tie creating unattractive lumps along the fin rays. Then is it is time to sew along the face of the fabric. At the end closest to the scale fabric where the fin rays in your design join, sew through the zips atop the face of the fabric and across the fin before or after sewing the zip ties or whenever is most convenient for you. This keeps the zips flat and in place. Theoretically it is not an essential step if you want a floppier fin. In general, I try to begin and end sewing in the seam allowance that will become attached to my tail/scale fabric by going back over stitches as needed keeping parallel to the zips. This helps to create clean lines on the surface of the fin which almost disappear with paint. The methods …show more content…
If the top thread does snap and you catch it early because you are going nice and slow it is pretty easy to put the sewing machine in reverse and make a knot over the area, keep going, and just tie and hide the loop while hand sewing. Clearly I am a sadly inexperienced sewer and I would love to get some feedback on this problem from an experience seamstress! If I talk to someone I will post and update here or if one of you has some input I would love to hear from you.
Later, I plan on making another long update on how I sewed the two fluke halves together, and on how I installed the elastic band once I have worked out all the details. Now with the elastic band, I don’t mean to repeat what others have already posted , I want to put my own spin on it. I just thought it would be nice to have all the information in one convent place for newbies like myself. I plan on updating the thread as soon as I find the solutions to the problems that I could not fully address. I may even edit this post and just write my changes in blue text so I don’t have conflicting information on the thread. Hopefully by the time I am done with this thread a beginner Mer like myself will have everything they need to know to make a realistic fabric tail. I also plan on posting a cost break down once the tail is complete and I will let you know how it holds up at the pool. I hope this information was helpful and not more confusing. Remember to test test test these ideas first on
I mentioned earlier that I had some problems sewing …show more content…
I encourage you to Test! Test! Test! To see what works best for you. You may even create your own method. Cut the zip ties to your desired length and shape using a pair of strong pliers/ wire cutters. For the smallest fins I sewed with the fabric inside out forming almost a V shape with the two seams on the sides. I left a large enough hole on the tip of the V to turn the fabric right side out. Then pin the zips in place. If possible avoid creating inside seams by cutting the pattern on a folded piece of fabric with the fold in place of an inside seam. This helps you avoid having the remaining seam allowance slide around on the top of the zip tie creating unattractive lumps along the fin rays. Then is it is time to sew along the face of the fabric. At the end closest to the scale fabric where the fin rays in your design join, sew through the zips atop the face of the fabric and across the fin before or after sewing the zip ties or whenever is most convenient for you. This keeps the zips flat and in place. Theoretically it is not an essential step if you want a floppier fin. In general, I try to begin and end sewing in the seam allowance that will become attached to my tail/scale fabric by going back over stitches as needed keeping parallel to the zips. This helps to create clean lines on the surface of the fin which almost disappear with paint. The methods …show more content…
If the top thread does snap and you catch it early because you are going nice and slow it is pretty easy to put the sewing machine in reverse and make a knot over the area, keep going, and just tie and hide the loop while hand sewing. Clearly I am a sadly inexperienced sewer and I would love to get some feedback on this problem from an experience seamstress! If I talk to someone I will post and update here or if one of you has some input I would love to hear from you.
Later, I plan on making another long update on how I sewed the two fluke halves together, and on how I installed the elastic band once I have worked out all the details. Now with the elastic band, I don’t mean to repeat what others have already posted , I want to put my own spin on it. I just thought it would be nice to have all the information in one convent place for newbies like myself. I plan on updating the thread as soon as I find the solutions to the problems that I could not fully address. I may even edit this post and just write my changes in blue text so I don’t have conflicting information on the thread. Hopefully by the time I am done with this thread a beginner Mer like myself will have everything they need to know to make a realistic fabric tail. I also plan on posting a cost break down once the tail is complete and I will let you know how it holds up at the pool. I hope this information was helpful and not more confusing. Remember to test test test these ideas first on