Kite Making Things Learnt!

The "what I will do differently next time" section:

1. Always double check everything as you go along. Especially in the early design/templates.
2. Get all the materials before you start - I have been stranded now for a couple of weeks by not getting the Dacron necessary. And always buy a little bit more than you think you are going to need.
3. Plan you sail design with the fabric wastage in mind - my design ended up being quite wasteful - with more thought I could have had a similar design without as much waste.
4. When drawing around the templates & adding the various seem allowances don't measure from the line then draw another line - this isn't that accurate. Find a piece of wood (or something) with the correct size (say 1 cm) and draw round that. And use a sharp, soft pencil!.
5. Use a pencil rubber to erase things you no longer need before sewing (otherwise you might be able to see them when it's finished).
6. If you have enough off cuts why not make a small edition of the kite to try everything out? I did this - not to scale or anything, but just to check about sewing and seams and stuff.
7. Possibly next time I will hot cut all panels, rather than just cutting with a sharp knife.
8. For some fittings you can improvise by looking around at DIY shops.
9. Glue the seams before sewing - not the expert way of doing it, but really does make it easier for a beginner. But it can can cause problems with your sewing machine getting glued up (or so I have heard).
10. Check the sewing machine bobbin before starting on long sewing runs (otherwise you end up simply putting holes in the fabric when the thread runs out!)
11. When laying out fabric to cut make sure that the ends are weighted down and where you placed them before cutting!