Ask Waylon Lew anything about stitching and modding.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 31 Aug 2008 20:19

Speedsk8r655 wrote:I have been really confused about gather. First of all, what exactly is it referring to when you say it. Also, what are the pros and cons of high and low gather. I know this has probably been asked, but I couldnt find it in the search, or on google. Hopefully you could link me to an explanation, or give me one of yours. Thanks

Gather is a pretty general term. It is the act of pulling the thread when you are about finished with sewing a pentagon flower (a pentagon with five hexagons surrounding all 5 sides; in the case of a 32-panel) so that you are literally bunching/folding the facile together. I, however, use a very unique method in which I knot before I begin sewing, do a running stitch in each side, gather and "tie" each end hole of the pentagon side.

The pros and cons o high and low gather are pretty practically as well. Low gathered bags ar instantly shreddable, obviously, but it also leaqds to the risk of an awkward feeling bag, or a bag that keeps its shape in a rock-like state. High gathered bags offer much more substance in terms of feel, but they tend to break-in much longer than bags made with lower gather. However, in terms of performance, a lot of other factors play in, like what colors of facile you use or what type of filler you use for the bag. Bags, especially the 32-panel, have such a unique manner to them in that depending on the owner and how they treat their bags, the break-in process differentiates per user (although in general the product any one stitcher busts out has an expected performance that any player can usually agree on).

But, I will conclude that the break-in process is conclusive through the templates the stitcher uses, and how the stitcher manipulates that template around with their sewing technique. That's why experimentation is such a great rule of thumb (a golden rule that Tom Mosher has always expressed!).

gMoney wrote:I've been thinking about switching from lead to steel. I'm not sure how many people use steel in their bags, but I sure would like to not get lead poisoning. Are there any big drawbacks for steel? Is 55 grams of steel that big of a difference from 55 grams of lead? And is steel bad for the material? Is there a complimentary filler that won't kill the panels?

I've seen a lot of people convert from lead to steel, but I also feel surprised in how many people have taken the "lead poisoning" ideology to such a great extent (I know I've given a couple of explanations to people at a lot of tournaments in the past few months and years). It is not a huge risk unless you consume the lead pellets or rub your hands into lead so that the palms of your hands are just blackened from the shots' residue. However, I suppose it is better to be safe than sorry.

The only drawbacks to steel is that it is not as dense as lead, and it rusts. Of course, you can also argue that the surface area of steel is much more coarse than lead, as I feel that lead is much more "soft" and porous in general.

In comparing both fillers in terms of fill amount/ratio and performance, steel would require more shot to fill the bag more to a proper weight (55 grams) whereas lead would take less space. Also, steel has a way of bouncing around the inside of the bag more spontaneously than lead, and lead settles much better because of the soft porous surface area. And of course, steel rusts which can be really bad for any player and stitcher (rusted filler can do a lot of harm for the most hardcore footbaggers). Even if I am saying all of this, I have played a lot of great bags filled with steel, especially with steel bags filled at a very heavy weight, so I doubt it will be a problem to fill your bags with steel if you take really care of them.

But, to answer your question on what would be the best type of filler to compliment with steel, glass beads that are used to decorate gift and post cards are a great complimentary item! You can buy very small little glass beads at "Michael's" or any craft store and they will come in containers of two for about $5 USD I think. This filler type would work best for steel shot. However, if you can buy planetfootbag steel shot, buy that instead and forget my entire explanation. It may be extremely light, but it is small and irregular so it would work great as a solo filler for any freestyle 32 of sustainable size (about a little larger than the size of a golfball).

I just believe that small irregular shot has a way of better settling down as a filler in a bag. In fact, that is one good quality that tungsten when it is not refined into shot form.

I hope this helps. I think I may have been too wordy in this post.

gMoney · Post by **gMoney** » 01 Sep 2008 09:17

Awesome. Thanks

JoshC. · Post by **JoshC.** » 01 Sep 2008 11:59

Thanks alot.

K4S · Post by **K4S** » 04 Sep 2008 23:43

I went out to a fabric store and bought some glover's needles. They only had one size though which was labelled "sz 4/gr 6" which i assume means that the sharp tip is a size 4 and it gradients down to a size 6 for the rest of the needle. Makes sense from what i can see i suppose.

Anyway, what i wanted to ask was is this needle too big? I've read that the needle should be around the same size as the sewing thread and a size 4 glover's needle seems way bigger than the typically used floss/thread.

http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/6999/pic004ma6.jpg

I took a picture of the needle beside a penny for size reference...is the needle too big? just right? doesnt matter?

...I also wanted to ask whether i should use floss or thread (button or upholstery) but after searching and reading the versus posts regarding that question i dont think i should bring it up

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 05 Sep 2008 02:14

K4S wrote:http://img122.imageshack.us/img122/6999/pic004ma6.jpg

I took a picture of the needle beside a penny for size reference...is the needle too big? just right? doesnt matter?

...I also wanted to ask whether i should use floss or thread (button or upholstery) but after searching and reading the versus posts regarding that question i dont think i should bring it up

"K4S,"

To be quite honest I'm unsure of the size of my needle as well. I measured it and it is about 4 cm long with the sharp tip at 1 cm. It is ideal to have the needle the same width as the thread, but I think given the many different methods of "threading" a needle this doesn't really matter in general. However, looking at the picture of your needle the head where you would loop your thread in is of comfortable size. I also believe that having a needle with a slightly larger head than the thread's width would only be beneficial, as it will make a slightly larger hole for the thread to pass through.

If you feel that glover's needles are a tad bit sharp, you can always use a nail filer to make the edges a tad bit more blunt. All you need is the sharp point at the tip of the needle, and not the slicing and dicing of the sharp edges.

As for thread, use anything that is strong and reliable, but is also thin and workable. Any thread will do in general. I personally started with floss and it seems like a lot of people use that as well. If you want to go oldschool, you can always buy button thread or nylon upholstery. It's your decision, really, but just make sure to buy a thread that is strong and reliable.

I hope this helps.

johnl583 · Post by **johnl583** » 14 Sep 2008 12:49

How do the following change the appearance of the bag: long stitch on hex + short stitch on pent, short stitch on hex + long stitch on pent, and even sized stitches on pent and hex?

kidzanshin · Post by **kidzanshin** » 14 Sep 2008 13:23

OOH i was wondering this ^ too...

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 14 Sep 2008 15:15

johnl583 wrote:How do the following change the appearance of the bag: long stitch on hex + short stitch on pent, short stitch on hex + long stitch on pent, and even sized stitches on pent and hex?

Very good question! I've thought about this a lot in length, and it isn't something that can be answered all too clearly. Personally, when I stitch, I try to stitch as evenly as possible on both the pentagon and hexagon sides to create a uniform gather, but I'll try my best to imagine how the panel will appear on the exterior with what the stitch placement that you mentioned, John.

And for obvious reasons, the more you gather the more likely the folds in the stitchwork will be more prominently shown. If you do medium to low gathered bags, your stitchwork won't be displayed in terms of the gather, and I think you can get away with a slightly messy stitchwork. But if you keep your stitches straight and in proper depth, I doubt you will encounter many problems at all.

So...

long stitch on hex + short stitch on pent: The stitchwork for the pentagon will look much smaller and maybe more sharper against the hexagon. Due to the long stitchwork on the hexagon side, the fabric on the hexagon side might expose itself on the exterior of the bag (which probably won't look good).

short stitch on hex + long stitch on pent: The stitchwork for the pentagon may fold and expose more of the stitchwork than you had intended. In my opinion, I think the stitches will expose themselves with more definition, and it will probably jut out the middle stitch more prominently than usual, which can look very unappealing. Also, this may apply a lot of tnesion on the hexagon panel, causing undesired wrinkles.

Because you are working your stitches around in circles, three stitches on the pentagon side and four on the hexagon side is probably a way of balancing and counter-balancing your overall stitchwork in general. Having three on each side of the pentagon, along with applying gather, is the very format in which tension is built and should be balanced with even stitching. The hexagons are supposedly "wrapping" themselves around the pentagon, to help counter-balance the pentgaon's tension, and applying pressure on the stitchwork in keeping a clean balance in a way.

So, say that the middle stitch on the pentagon is larger than the rest of the pentagon stitches and the panel is gathered. When the pressure from gathering is applied on the panel, the inward pressure that is applying against the faciles on both the pentagon sides and the hexagon long sides will be even dispersed (dependent on the amount of gather used). However, with the middle stitch on the pentagon side having the most space in which the "fold" will encompass, there won't be enough pressure applying the stitch to go and stay inward in that section and it will expose itself on the exterior of the panel.

If you are having some trouble imagining what I'm trying to explain, I think the best method is to skewer paper (or bacon) onto spits, two at a time so that you can imagine how stitch placement and gather can affect your resulting panel. Or, even better, in terms of using bacon as your medium, a long 5 inch needle threaded with a strong slender rope, and just stitching two slabs of bacon together (3 stitches on one side and 4 on the other), and gather. Sure enough this is different from actually sewing a panel, but it will give you an example of the importance of how your gather looks, which is inherent in the stitch placement.

Obviously, if you keep your stitches straight, even, and in proper depth, you won't encounter any problems and the tension will look evenly dispersed.

I hope this helps.

PS: I have experimented on a different type of sewing method, the sewing method that is primarily used for the generic "hackysack," and I believe this type of sewing method is more complicated than our method but with beneficial "security" on the stitchwork. Meaning no exposed stitches and no fear of wrinkled pents or hexes (if you place your stitches straight, that is). The only problems I see in this method is that it applies more tension on the panel and there is too much work involved, surprisingly. I will try to get one bag done with this method (so far, I have 3 pents done and 10 hexagons used). In terms of its appearance on the exterior, the best way I can elaborate on it is that it is the inverse of how we usually stitch bags, which is a bit remarkable when you take the time to think about it.

bdams19 · Post by **bdams19** » 19 Sep 2008 20:08

can you fix my g unit with a giant patch of facile? my quantums are killing me, i want to cheat at footbag again

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 24 Sep 2008 09:13

bdams19 wrote:can you fix my g unit with a giant patch of facile? my quantums are killing me, i want to cheat at footbag again

Sure buddy. Just leave them to me whenever you are in NYC.

Donovon · Post by **Donovon** » 29 Oct 2009 13:13

Colors for 32s can be broken down to simply 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 17, 21 and 32 (or whatever, in terms of random colors and dada bags) depending on the pattern

I am really interested in this. Can you elaborate?

I am also having a terrible time trying to figure out the three color pattern found on many of Hania's bags. Any help here? I am prolly gonna get one soon.

PS. The spiral patters on the bags in the picture of the black/white spikey bag are sweet. Any tips for conceptualizing this while stitching? I am getting a pretty good understanding of color patterns but still having trouble with certain designs.

Thanks,
~Donovon

EDIT: So ive done more looking around and the pattern i was refering to is called a blur?
This is 12 hexes one color 8 the other. However, i cant seem to figure out where to put the final 6 of the "other" color.

EDIT to EDIT: I think I have figured out the spiral and the blur. If you could still explain the quote that would be great.

binx · Post by **binx** » 14 Nov 2009 08:45

what do i do here? I have all of the panels sewed on, but it doesnt match up to make a sphere. where did I mess up? or did I? this is the second bag and first 32 Ive sewn, unless you count the one I did with my dad and some weird plastic-ey fabric a while ago.

Johnny · Post by **Johnny** » 14 Nov 2009 15:01

I hope this helps. Simply put, you just added an extra hexagon where you could have used an existing hexagon.

Wasabi · Post by **Wasabi** » 25 Nov 2009 16:30

Donovan,

The "Blur" pattern is with 12 hexagons of one color, 8 with another, and the 12 pentagons of their own distinctive color (just to make it easier to imagine).

Anyway, imagine the pattern like a box. The 8 hexagon colors are like the corner of the box, the 12 hexagons are like the sides with two panels of its same distinction adjacent with each other, and the pentagons are there to bind with them.

Remember the golden rule of sewing a 32-panel: 5 hexagons on their long-side are to be sewn on all five sides of the pentagon. I cannot repeat this enough. You will be repeating this over and over again as you are sewing around the 32 and producing a "make-shift sphere." Once you have one corner down, the rest is cake.

As for making a spiral pattern, follow the pattern as though it were a line. For three lines spinning and diverging out of a central spot, imagine one hexagon as the center surrounded by three pentagons and three hexagons, and just focus on how the lines are made with the hexagons/pentagons.

I hope this helps. I've been away from stitching for a while now.

Donovon · Post by **Donovon** » 27 Nov 2009 09:15

Thanks man,
I've pretty much figured out a ton of patterns recently. There are always just so many bag designs i want to make and not enough time to make them.
Sorry to hear about not stitching, i really admire your work.
~Donovon