"The Big Book of Boat Canvas" is a thorough revision and updating of Karen Lipe's two popular earlier books, "Boat Canvas Cover to Cover" and "More Boat Canvas", combined with a whole new section on below-decks sewing projects. In this latest volume, Lipe ranges well beyond the boundaries of traditional canvas work to create a comprehensive guide to fabric work on board. You'll find dozens of traditional canvas projects - sail covers, awnings, duffel bags, dodgers, and Biminis, wind chutes, winter covers - all with clear, step-by-step instructions, generously illustrated. You'll also find dozens of not-so-traditional fabric projects to add comfort and a touch of elegance to your below-decks spaces: custom interior cushions, fitted sheets and daycovers, privacy curtains, lee cloths, even a tablecloth to fit your varnished table.Lipe offers a veritable minicourse in interior yacht decoration, dozens of useful sewing tips, a careful detailing of materials and tools needed for each project, and an extensive discussion of modern fabrics appropriate for exterior and interior use. In short, this handy book covers everything you need to know to sew comfort, utility, and style into your boat."A treasure of functional and fanciful projects you can sew yourself." - "Multihulls". "You'll find this book of the utmost practical help." - "The Ensign". It passed what is for me the acid test of a how-to book: "The Big Book of Boat Canvas" made me want to get at some long-neglected projects and even to try some that I never thought I could manage." - "SAIL".

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction Part One: A Few Fundamentals 1. The Sewing Machine 2. Tools and Hardware for Canvas Work 3. Sewing Terminology and Techniques Part Two: Topside Projects 4. Color Considerations 5. Fabric for Exterior Projects 6. Canvas Bucket, Ditty Bag, or Rigger's Bag 7. A Simple Duffel Bag 8. Ready Bags and Sea Sausages 9. Spar Bag 10. Life Jacket Bag 11. Sheet Bags, Tool Bags, and Lazarette Shelves 12. Sailboard Bag 13. Bicycle Bag 14. Building an Awning 15. A Dodger, A Bimini, or Both? 16. Riggin a Rain Catcher 17. Secure Your Ship with Weather Cloths 18. Hatch Dodgers 19. A Simple Wind Chute 20. Deck Cushions 21. Sail Covers 22. A Cover for the Yacht Tender 23. Building a Winter Cover 24. Windshield Cover 25. Hatch Covers 26. Custom Covers for On-Deck Equipment Part Three: Interior Fabric Work 27. Design and Color Considerations in Interior Fabric Work 28. Fabrics for Interior Projects 29. Interior Cushions 30. Sheets and Quilts versus Expensive Upholstery 31. Curtains 32. Locker-Mounted Laundry Bag 33. Galley and Navigator's Strap 34. Lee Cloths 35. Creating Storage out of Open Shelving 36. Protective Carpet Runners 37. Fitted Toilet Seat Cover 38. Tablecloth, Napkins, and Placemats to Fit Your Table 39. Canvas Insert for Pipe Berths 40. Screens Appendix 1. Care and Cleaning of Clear Vinyl and Acrylic Canvas Appendix 2. Glossary of Interior Fabric Terms Appendix 3. Sources Index

About the Author

Karen Lipe was born in Michigan and began racing Sailfish at age five. At Michigan State University she raced dinghies and met Bob Lipe as they stood in line hoping for berths on a 'round-the-world voyage. For eleven of their fifteen years of marriage, they lived aboard a 40-foot Atkin ketch in which they cruised the Eastern seaboard, Great Lakes, Caribbean, and Bahamas. Karen began writing articles for marine publications and making "canvas" items for other cruising boats from the deck of her yacht, and when the demand for her work got bigger than the boat, she started a commercial loft in Fort Lauderdale, which she operated seasonally for two years. She sold that loft to make a transatlantic voyage, and later started the Coverloft in Annapolis. There she worked with individuals, manufacturers, and marketing companies for nine years, designing and building canvas and yacht interiors for all types of floating craft. Her daughter Annie was born in 1981, and in 1982 she sold her loft and worked as a consultant and yacht broker for five years. She is presently back in the "canvas business" with partner Bob McWilliams, designing and manufacturing at McWilliams and Lipe, Ltd. She also consults with people interested in starting their own canvas businesses, helping with financial projections, procurement of materials and machinery, and plant layout.

Reviews

"It passed what is for me the acid test of a how-to book: The Big Book made me want to get at some long-neglected projects and even to trys ome that I never thought I could manage." Sail "You'll find this book of the utmost practical help." The Ensign