Sewing Practice

I am no stranger to a sewing machine, but I'm no professional either.  So before I commit to a couple hundred dollars worth of Dacron, I thought I'd brush up on my skills.  Plus, I'd like some experience with hot knife cutting as well.  Therefore, enter Project Burgee wherein I get the practice I need while creating salty gifts for the family's sailors.

A little background for the reader--
My family (i.e Dad) has a lakeside cottage (or camp as they are called locally) where we have a Sunfish and a motorboat.  My brother also sails a J24 in the Long Island Sound.  Once I add my future Goat Island Skiff, the family will have something of a fleet worthy of our own House Flag.  The camp is named Que Sera Sera and features a striking black and white paint scheme.

So I drew upon this design vocabulary for our House Flag.  A good flag uses symbols or graphics rather than letters.  I stylized the initials QSS to be more graphical and less... alphabetical.  This is the result:

 So I ordered some flag cloth and set to work!  I gathered my plans, my tools, sewing notions, and liquid lubricant.  This is where my family eats, so I had to work fast.

 Using a soldering iron with a pointy tip and an aluminum straight edge allowed for clean cuts.

The white cloth is not heavy enough to be opaque, so two layers will be in order.

 The cotton/poly edging and brass grommets.  I plan to use grommets like these for my Lugs'l spar lashings.

I cut a strip of cloth to use as border edging.  The folds are about a quarter inch for this 4"x6" mini version.

 This is why I'm practicing!  Actually, there are two problems here.  One is that the thread is way too thick for this project.  It will be good for the seams on my sail though.  Also, I did not fuse the edges of the design with the iron because the white cloth was getting scorched. I'll have to work on that.

 This is why I chose to use two layers of black cloth.  I swear, the beer was NOT the reason for these stiches...

 I LOVE it when a plan comes together!  This tiny size was the rehearsal, but it happens to follow the sizing guidelines for a Sunfish according to the US Power Squadron's Flag and Etiquette Committee: 1/2" on the fly for every foot of mast, and a 2:3 hoist to fly ratio.  In this case, the fly is 6".  I've got dimensions for all the boats in the fleet, as large as 10"x15" for my brother's J24.  So I should stop typing and keep sewing...