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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Tweed
    Posts
    3

    Default G'day from Tweed..need a genius..

    Hi to all
    I am hoping someone can help me design some kind of jig or other alternative to over come my problem.
    I am a sewing machinist and have always worked on small sized projects, however I have been asked by a social group to make up various covers.
    These covers, in some instances are 4 metres wide by 4 metres wide.
    The material I am using is on a 2 metre roll and I have a sysyem set up so that the roll holder is basically much like a toilet roll holder.
    My biggest problem is trying to measure and cut straight material of this length. Sometimes I get right to the end, and on my last row of stitching, when I am marrying up all pieces it becomes apparent that I have cut the material out of square.

    One of the suggestions so far has been to have a giant L square made up at a steel
    workshop etc. I think aluminium would better due to the weight, but then, where could I store something so large.

    Surely there is a way to measure and cut the 2 metre lengths straight and square, then after sewing them together, double check that the new 4 metre piece is square.

    Can anyone please help, it is doing my head in..

    Thanks to all
    aussie

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Victoria
    Posts
    0

    Default

    Maybe fold the 2 metre length in half making sure the edges are parallel then use a T square?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Munruben, Qld
    Age
    84
    Posts
    0

    Default

    Tricky little problem but I'm sure someone will come up with an idea. Welcome to the forum.
    Reality is no background music.
    Cheers John

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Tweed
    Posts
    3

    Default

    Thanks for replies so far.
    Yes munruben, there are talented people here that's for sure.
    Ling, thank you for your input, I also should have mentioned that the material
    I am using is plastic coated, therefore folding in half will create an undesirable
    crease where there shouldn't be one.
    Thanks again look forward to more suggestions
    aussie

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    South West Victoria
    Age
    64
    Posts
    0

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by aussie11 View Post
    Hi to all
    I am hoping someone can help me design some kind of jig or other alternative to over come my problem.
    I am a sewing machinist and have always worked on small sized projects, however I have been asked by a social group to make up various covers.
    These covers, in some instances are 4 metres wide by 4 metres wide.
    The material I am using is on a 2 metre roll and I have a sysyem set up so that the roll holder is basically much like a toilet roll holder.
    My biggest problem is trying to measure and cut straight material of this length. Sometimes I get right to the end, and on my last row of stitching, when I am marrying up all pieces it becomes apparent that I have cut the material out of square.

    One of the suggestions so far has been to have a giant L square made up at a steel
    workshop etc. I think aluminium would better due to the weight, but then, where could I store something so large.

    Surely there is a way to measure and cut the 2 metre lengths straight and square, then after sewing them together, double check that the new 4 metre piece is square.

    Can anyone please help, it is doing my head in..

    Thanks to all
    aussie
    After marking out the square check the diagonals from corner to corner and if they measure the same then it must be square. http://woodworking.about.com/od/gett...onalSquare.htm

    You can make a large fixed square of any size out of strips of ply or other rigid material by following the Pythagorus rule of 3 4 5. Google it. http://www.mathsisfun.com/pythagoras.html

    Col
    Hoppers crossing
    Vic
    Good better best, never let it rest, until your good is better and your better best.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Location
    Tallahassee FL USA
    Age
    82
    Posts
    0

    Default

    What kind of seam, and how are you stitching it?

    Unless the material is very dear, it might be advantageous to cut the two pieces over-length, stitch together, and make the final cuts on a large layout table with square cutting marks, such marks made according to Col's instruction.

    If the material is particularly unwieldy, the sewing machine could be mounted on a trolley, to move against stationary material. I think this is how large tarpaulins are assembled.

    Cheers,
    Joe
    Of course truth is stranger than fiction.
    Fiction has to make sense. - Mark Twain

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Location
    back in Alberta for a while
    Age
    69
    Posts
    1,133

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by aussie11 View Post
    My biggest problem is trying to measure and cut straight material of this length. Sometimes I get right to the end, and on my last row of stitching, when I am marrying up all pieces it becomes apparent that I have cut the material out of square.

    snip

    Surely there is a way to measure and cut the 2 metre lengths straight and square, then after sewing them together, double check that the new 4 metre piece is square.

    Can anyone please help, it is doing my head in..
    Pythagorous is your friend

    BUT you need a piece of good quality string

    a triangle with sides 3 units, 4units and 5 units is always square
    (Pythagorous -- which I've probably misspelt -- says 3 x 3 + 4 x 4 = 5 x 5)
    so if you take exactly 6m of string and starting at one end make marks at exactly 1.5 and 3.5 metres from the end, when you fold the string into a taut triangle using the marks, the angle between the 1.5 and 2m sides will be exactly 90°.
    align the 1.5 m side with the edge of the material and mark your 90° -- the 2m side of the triangle will be your cut line across the material
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Albury Well Just Outside
    Posts
    2,966

    Default

    Welcome to the forum.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Sep 2004
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    87
    Posts
    0

    Default

    Hi Aussie from Tweed. Maybe you could have a system similar to the glad wrap rolls . What I am visualizing is a timber staight edge running the length of the roll and attached either end to the shaft that supports your roll . The fabric would be pulled over this straight edge as it unrolls . I am assuming that the fabric is square on the roll so you could cut it off against the straight edge . I would have drawn a little picture and scanned it to attach to my reply but my scanner was drowned in the storms we had in Melbourne last year . I hope to get a new scanner this week , so if you think this idea is usefull , let me know .

    Butcher shops used to have their white paper wrapping paper on rolls with a cut off blade which would be very similar to what I am suggesting

    Cheers Peter
    I've just become an optimist . Iv'e made a 25 year plan -oopps I've had a few birthdays - better make that a 20 year plan

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Australia
    Posts
    3

    Default

    Hi! Pleased to meet you and welcome to the community! Looking forward to learn and share knowledge with you soon!

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Mar 2010
    Location
    Drouin Austarlia
    Posts
    1

    Default To Aussie 11

    From Chipped.
    Don't know how much room you have to set this up so, if you already have your roll on a spindle, like a toilet roll. Fix the spindle to the wall, you may need a strong secure type bracket for this. Let the vinyl roll-out downward. If the spindle is level, (set it so, with a level) the edges will hang straight down. set up a level straight edge 2m off the floor, behind the sheet and cut it with a stanley knife along the edge of the straight edge. Some I have seen have two pieces of flat steel, fixe with a very fine gap between them just wide enough for the cutting blade. This should give you a square cut. A frame could be made with secondhand timber with the straight edge fixed to it. You must cut along the edge of the straight edge no on it.
    Cheers

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