How can I reduce stitching time?

D. · Post by D. » 02 Jan 2011 03:12

I've just finished my 7th footbag, and it's still taking me forever to complete them. Currently It's taking me about 8-10 hours over 4 or 5 days.

I need some tips on speeding up my stitching.
I'm currently doing mostly 3 stitch, except where I have stuffed up my spacing, and along the shortest edges, which get more.
My process is to draw out the shapes from stencils, and cut them separately, then estimate the stitch spacing instead of drawing hundreds of dots.
I am also 'reinforcing' all the corners as I make it, which I feel is important, by sewing between all the panels at the intersection. This makes everything nice and tight when I turn the thing inside out ready for filling.

I also make them in 2 halves, then sew the 2 together. This seems faster than going patch by patch.

RipWalker · Post by **RipWalker** » 02 Jan 2011 04:37

Definitely weigh in with more of the accomplished stitchers, but I'd look closely at the time taken to "reinforce" your corners. I'm not 100% sure what you're referencing, but it sounds like stitching all of those corners closed takes extra time and leaves you without bleed holes for filling/emptying. Normal 32 stitch techniques leave bleed holes that hardly allow anything to pass through given the way that the fabric presses together at those points.

Again, I may be misconstruing the meaning of "reinforcing" those corners. Matt Cross has a different method employing rare earth magnets (or at least one) to cut panels out quicker by folding the facile. I'm sure he'll post here or direct you to an existing post.

Hope you can shave some time off of the process man! Keep stitching!

mc · Post by mc » 02 Jan 2011 07:22

in this Bags & Equipment forum, there are two posts that I wrote some time ago - Beginner Stitching FAQ, and Advanced Stitching FAQ. They are pretty brief and some ideas that can help you speed up your stitching are contained therein.

good luck.

i have just bumped the threads up to the top of the forum, so finding them should be no problem.

D. · Post by D. » 03 Jan 2011 00:56

Thanks guys.
I'm closing up all the corners so they last as long as possible.
I've read about bleed holes, but I think I've settled on 65g for this size, so after they are filled I don't need to add or remove any..
But I could save maybe 20-20mins by not doing this.

MC - thanks as well. I read them both and I'll give a few things a try. Hopefully I can get them down to ~5 hours.

Jiffy · Post by **Jiffy** » 03 Jan 2011 12:38

oh and dont take my word on this cause im not positive but wouldnt not stitching the bleedholes make break in time less and just make the bag mor mushy with less stitches? idk maybe matt can confirm or tell me im wrong

on this one. just a thought

Nathan · Post by **Nathan** » 03 Jan 2011 21:27

My thoughts from 7 years of stitching:

1) Don't bother reinforcing
2) I recommend this strategy: Start each panel leaving extra thread at the end (no knots) and finish the panel leaving some extra too. Sew all the panels together, without gathering, in this way. At the end, gather each pentagon using these two lengths of thread, and knot it 7-10 times with simple knots like the first step of tying your shoes.
3) You said you "stuff up your stitching" sometimes. While it may take longer to do, ALWAYS go back and restitch these parts instead. Learning now to stitch consistently is the most important thing you can do. If every stitch needs to be .85 mm (throwing out a random #) in order to fit 6 stitches on a side, you will eventually learn to see and feel just where to place the needle. Don't rush stitch placement.
4) Making the bags in two halves can lead to one half being gathered differently than the other. Put on some music, keep adding one panel at a time and it will be done before you know it (maybe once you get to your 30th bag or so

)
5) Assuming you are sewing 32s -- Hopefully you realize that you don't need to sew the hexagons to each other completely. It can be done while sewing the pentagons to the hexagons. Between seams connecting a pent to a hex, simply dedicate one stitch to securing the adjacent hexagons together, and then return to the pent. If that's not clear, please search the forums. This method will come up in a tutorial somewhere.

Hope this helps, and good luck.

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 04 Jan 2011 12:17

Nathan wrote:My thoughts from 7 years of stitching:

have you even been playing for 7 years?

cd · Post by cd » 04 Jan 2011 13:51

Sounds about right. You realize that "Nathan"=nate pipenberg, right? You've probably been to at least a couple East Coast tournaments that he was also at, I'm sure you'd recognize video of him. He's been a strong guiltless player for years.

D. · Post by D. » 04 Jan 2011 16:41

Cheers Nathan. I'm going to start another tonight, and I'll give your method of not tying or gathering till the end. I'll skip my extra corner stitches and see how that goes as well.

Jdigges · Post by **Jdigges** » 09 Mar 2011 22:15

One thing that i found helped me out a lot was cutting around a template instead of tracing and cutting. i make templates out of aluminum sheeting. and then i fold up a strip of facile 4 or 5 times and place the template on top of the folded strip. and i use strong earth magnets to hold the template on there. then i cut the excess off. It takes me 10-15 minutes to cut out all the pents and hexes that i need for a bag.

zachatree · Post by **zachatree** » 09 Mar 2011 22:41

Jdigges wrote:One thing that i found helped me out a lot was cutting around a template instead of tracing and cutting. i make templates out of aluminum sheeting. and then i fold up a strip of facile 4 or 5 times and place the template on top of the folded strip. and i use strong earth magnets to hold the template on there. then i cut the excess off. It takes me 10-15 minutes to cut out all the pents and hexes that i need for a bag.

i recommend this too. it really is a life saver.

i make my templates out of gift cards that i snag off counters at places like starbucks. If you pinch hard enough an do it enough you can get away with out using magnets (thanksbrianbear) some fabrics you can fold up an get 8 peaces at a shot! with some fabrics i can cut a whole bag out well under 5 minutes. also i find using good scissors that are handle griped an not thumb holes, will do a much better job for this.

akalazou · Post by **akalazou** » 10 Mar 2011 08:37

pro (for the cutting tip): its VERY fast

con: you'll waste A LOT of fabric

mahhkohh · Post by **mahhkohh** » 16 Mar 2011 02:22

akalazou wrote:pro (for the cutting tip): its VERY fast

con: you'll waste A LOT of fabric

Very true. I tend to do this only when i need a fast stitched bag or when I'm not at home. I think you waste 1/3 of a bag worth of fabric with that method. But its fast

Also the gathering at the end method is very good. Helped me speed up very much. At first he gathering May feel like it takes forever, but Thats just in the beginning.
Another thing is, the more you stitch the faster you'll be. I started with 8+ hours as well and now i am down to -1.5 practise makes champs

D. · Post by D. » 17 Mar 2011 03:24

I have started gathering at the end, and it does save a lot of time. Plus now I'm only using 12 threads for the whole bag.!
I finished 2 on the weekend, which I am very happy with both. Just gotta find owners for them.. and just finished a my first mini, (not intended to be, but smaller than golf ball size) which was looking good, but I have had to bin it once I reached %100. As I turned the bag inside out to fill, one of my knots let go. No big deal, I took the broken thread out and re-stitched the whole pent, then filled and stitched closed. After 5 seconds of hand rolling another knot has let go. I'm not prepared to repair it, so I'll start on another tomorrow.
Photo's to come.

D. · Post by D. » 13 Apr 2011 00:51

I think I'm getting better now. The 2 smallest bags are my 12th and 13th. Both slightly smaller than a golf ball

WyrmFyre · Post by **WyrmFyre** » 13 Apr 2011 03:05

The blue/black one looks great! You say the knots are letting go. Are you using floss to stitch with, and are you sealing the knot with a lighter?

D. · Post by D. » 13 Apr 2011 03:34

Thanks for your compliment! I's my favourite so far too.
After the disaster on my first mini, I am burning all the loose ends on my knots and I've had no more problems.
I just started making a juggling ball for a friend, and snapped m trusty needle.! Going to have to buy some new ones tomorrow I reckon.