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The craftsman sailmakers of old made more than just sails. They made bags, pails, awnings, bathtubs, shelters and a whole host of other items. Those same artifacts have utility in today's world, and their beauty and rugged charm are timeless.

The skills themselves have direct relationship with 'domestic' needlework, and the tooling and methods are scaled-up to match the heavy canvas cloth. Needles are larger, and have a triangular cross-section toward the point. Thread is in fact twine, and is lubricated with beeswax to ease its passage through the canvas. The tailor's thimble is replaced here by a sailmaker's 'palm', which is a heavy leather strap supporting a dimpled metal stud at heel of the worker's thumb.

Sewing machinery made for domestic work can cope with light canvas, but naval sailmakers used special machines (made by Singer for the Royal Navy) for long stitching runs.

All sailors maintained their own kit, but the sailmaker's art set him apart from the average deck-hand. He made everything from the hammocks the men slept in to the shrouds they were sewn into for sea-burial. A look around today's ships will reveal none of this skilled artisan's work, and the knowledge is maintain by a few dedicated enthusiasts. It would be a shame if these wonders worked in canvas and twine slipped beneath the waves of time without trace.

Learn more about this author, Pete Morris.
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