Pocket Sled by Buck Childers

The Buck Childers Pocket Sled is an easy build and a great kite to own. It uses pockets instead of sticks. It is easy to transport and easy to fly.

This is the Plan that I used.

Notice first that the plan is written in metric. Whether the measurement is metric or standard, it is only marks on a stick, right? So, no worries, work in metric. Next, notice that the Plan is drawn without seam allowances or hem allowances. This allows the builder to use their own preferences for hems and seams. Just for the record, working in metric did not preclude me from using 1/4" hems.

If you are a great pattern maker and can figure out how to make the templates from the Plan above, go for it. If you have as much trouble wrapping your head around it as I did, you can follow the steps below.

Main Body Template: The Plan as drawn is 50 cm high and 77 cm wide. So it is about 20 inches high and 31 inches wide. A 24" by 36" piece of posterboard will work just fine for a template.

Let's look at what we have: I drew the plan below to scale before I made my template.

As with the Buck Childers drawing, the plan above is drawn without seam or hem allowances. To make the template, first measure up from the bottom edge 1/4" (or your favorite seam allowance) and draw a line across the bottom, 1/4" in from the edge. Then measure up 50 cm from that line and draw a line. Measure up another 1/4" (or your favorite seam allowance) and draw another line (for the seam allowance at the leading edge of the kite). It is a good idea to use a different color to draw the Seam Allowance lines, the lines along which the template will eventually be cut.

Now measure down 9 cm from the 50 cm line and draw a light line across the template.

I find it easiest to draw a Center Line and work my way out, so that is what I will describe. From either the right side or left side of the template, measure in 40 cm and draw a vertical Center Line. Measure away from this 13 cm in both directions. Draw a vertical line 13 CM to the right of the Center Line, and a vertical line 13 cm to the left of the Center Line. We now have a rectangle 50 cm (without seam allowances) tall and 26 cm wide.

Blue rectangle, 50 cm high and 26 cm wide.

From the top right of this rectangle, measure out 25.5 cm and down 9 cm. Then draw the line.

Top right blue line. Leading edge of right flare.

Repeat for the left side. Measure out 25.5 cm and down 9 cm. Then draw the line.

Now all leading edges are drawn.

From the bottom corners of the triangle, measure out 10.5 cm on each side, then draw a line.

Measure out 10.5 cm and draw a line.

 Then connect these lines with the Outside Leading Edge lines, as below.

Connect the lines.

Then measure out 16 cm along each Leading Edge line and make a mark. Along the Trailing Edge, measure out 7.5 cm on each side and make a mark. Connect those marks. These are the sew lines for the outside of the pockets.

Sew Lines for the outside of the pockets.

The only thing left are the curves for on the leading edge to encourage air to enter the pockets. These are important, but not critical. Don't lose sleep over this. Most builders of this kite use a continuous radius curve, or an arc, or part of a circle, to describe the curve for the pockets. The original Plan shows an Arc with a depth of 2 cm. Most people who build this kite use a circle with a radius of 17 cm to describe and draw this curve. A Beam Compass is great for this. If you don't have a Beam Compass, a piece of string and a push pin and a pencil will work. A 17 cm radius is a 34 cm diameter. 34 cm is about 13-1/2". Do you have a Frisbee laying around? :)

Drawing the curves.

Just keep in mind, size is less important than symmetry. The curves should be the same on both sides.

Add a hem allowance (1/4") to every straight edge. We don't hem the curves.

When I made my template, I measured, marked, and drew lines to show my seam allowances. Then I cut holes in the template so I could mark the lines on the fabric when I cut it.

Template, showing sew lines, seam allowances, and holes to transfer the lines on to the fabric. Note there are 10 holes. Okay - you got me - a dozen holes if you count the two quarter-inch round holes to hang up the template. Sheesh! :) Take special note of the upper, outside, triangular holes in the Flare. Those are for alignment marks for the Bridle Tabs.

Another look. My basement is a forest of templates. When possible I make them able to fold in half.

A look at a Body Panel with all the lines marked.

Another look.

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POCKET TEMPLATE:

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Pocket Detail

The Plan above is again written without seam or hem allowances. The long edges (the 50 cm edge and the 45 cm edge) will need SEAM allowances. The short edges (the 30 cm and 16.5 edge) will need HEM allowances. I like to use the edge of the Presser Foot on the sewing machine as a guide for sewing, so I use a Seam Allowance that is the distance from the needle to the edge of the Presser Foot. On most Pfaff sewing machines, that distance is 1 cm.

There is a 29 cm long dotted line on the Plan, from the 50 cm edge to the corner of the Flare. If we do the math, A² plus B² = C², then C² minus B² = A². C² = 30² = 900. B² = 29² = 841.900-841 = 59. The square root of 59 is about 7.6811457. So that dotted line is 7.68 cm down from the top. That is good to know, but I didn't do it that way.

I drew a rectangle 50 cm tall and 29 cm wide, with room for allowances on all sides.

Along the bottom, measure in 16.5 cm.

I used a beam compass to draw an arc with a radius of 30 cm and using the top left corner as the center. That is the most accurate way to get it done. Anther way would be to use a straightedge, align it to the corner and determine where 30 cm lands on the right edge, 29 cm away from the left edge.

Reset the Beam Compass to 45 cm and repeat the process, this time using the right end of the bottom 16.5 cm line as the center.

So we should end up with a Pocket Template that looks like this:

Remember to add Seam and Hem Allowances before cutting out the template.

Cut one Body Panel and two Pocket Panels.

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SEWING THE KITE

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Step One: Hem everything. On the Body, I wanted a little extra drag at the rear of the kite. I turned my hems towards the flier, towards the wind, away from the pockets. I did the sides (the longest edges) first, then the front, and I did the rear of the kite, the 47 cm edge, last. On the Pockets, I folded the hems towards the inside of the Pockets. Do Not hem the curves.

In the workshop: The kits I made for the workshop, when I cut them out, I applied tape to the 'good' side. In the workshop, participants were instructed to fold their hems away from the tape.

NOTE: There are two methods for marking and folding hems. I like to draw a line on the 'good' (tape) side of the panel, at the width of the hem, and fold on the line. Some people have problems seeing where to fold when they use that method. The Alternative Method is to use the other side of the panel, the 'bad' side, the side away from the tape, and measure in twice the desired width of the hem and draw a line. Now fold to the line instead of on the line.

On the Pocket Panels, only the two shortest edges, the 30 cm edge and the 16.5 cm edge, get hems.

When everything is hemmed, proceed to Step Two.

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Step Two: Sew the Pockets to the Body. Let's look at a peculiar depiction on the original drawing.

What the drawing above is showing is to sew the longest edge of the Pocket to the Body with the Good Sides of the panels together. Then sew the outside of the Pocket down normally.

Pocket Panel alignment for first seam.

It folds to the left for its second seam. Notice that it does not fold flat! Don't panic. It is supposed to do that.

While you are trying to wrap your head around that, let's throw you another curve.

When the Pocket is sewn to the Body, it needs to line up perfectly with the Body. How will we do that?We need to know how far in from the edge of the Pocket Panel the stitches will be. If we already know that distance, we can just measure and mark. If we don't know that distance, the easiest thing to do is to take a piece of posterboard and run it through the sewing machine with its edge against the edge of the Presser Foot. The idea is to get a strip of cardboard that is the width of the seam you will sew. That strip can be used to mark where stitches, the sew line, will be on the Pocket Panel.

Using a strip to mark the sew line.

Left edge (bottom edge in pic) of Pocket Panel aligned with marks on Body Panel, and Sew Line meets Leading Edge of Body Panel.

Sew both Pocket Panels to the kite using the methods above.

TAB STOCK: In most light-duty applications like this one, I make tab material using 1-inch wide strips of ripstop and folding it in thirds lengthwise to 3-layer ripstop strips about 3/8" wide. I sew them using a zig-zag. I cut this Tab Stock in to 2-inch long strips for most instances when I need tabs. For this kite we need 2 Tabs to attach the bridle.

Do you remember those marks in the Flares? 

Detail of Mark and Tab. The white square on the Tab is a piece of Seamstick, double-sided tape. It is hard to see, but there is a fold the Tab. It is a 2-inch long piece of Tab Stock, folded in half to make a 1-inch Tab.

In a perfect world, the alignment mark will go right down the middle of the Tab.

Tab folded, in place, ready for sewing. Notice the white square to the left. That is the backing for the Seamstick that has been removed.

BRIDLE: The Bridle for any Sled should be 3 times the distance between the flares. Our kite is 77 cm wide, about 31" Times 3 is 93" Too big is better than too small, so I rounded up to 100". My usual method for making Bridles is to tie 5" long loops. So I added 10" for loops, 5" on each side. I cut the bridles for the workshop at 110".

Any normal person would just tie a knot in the middle of the Bridle and be done. So I did not do that. I marked the middle with a Sharpie, and cut another 12" piece of string, made a Knotted Loop, and Prussik Knotted it to the bridle. Now there is some left-right adjustment if needed.

Have fun! E-mail me with any comments or questions!