Sail Making

Originally posted by Happilyover40 The first thing I need to do is to fix / re-enforce the luffs on 420 jibs then fix the boat cover and finally look at a spinnaker .

As JS has already said a jib luff can be done on a domestic, I've certainly repaired one, although when I say a domestic I do mean a very solid (all metal gears) domestic machine.

Biggest problem with sewing sails and covers too for that matter is the volume of cloth you have, this will be heavy and ideally is best laid over a large table so the weight doesn't pull the material around and so you can feed the material through the machine. An alternative approach is to sew on the floor, kneeling on one leg and operating the foot pedal with the other, this requires some practice!!!

PS Have you looked at all the YouTube clips out there, they can be very helpful.

The first thing I need to do is to fix / re-enforce the luffs on 420 jibs then fix the boat cover

and finally look at a spinnaker .

Start by making some kites. It won't cost you much and you will learn a lot of the basic techniques.

Basic construction techniques LINK

Kite Plans LINK

Only sail making course I have ever seen is at Lyme Regis....

http://www.boatbuildingacademy.com/courses_a/shortcourses/sailmaking.htm

You won't become an expert in a week but I'm sure there is lots to be learnt and it seems like a good place to start.

Plenty of good working second hand machines around, zig zag and 3 step zig zag, look in the usual places and just doing a Google search will find a few.

As has already been said there are free sail design programs about which will then convert the design to panels, again google is your friend.

Good idea but unfortunately finances and family don't make this possible.
Especially as my name is a decade out of date