Ping-Pong Table – 1+ as noted above.
Am in the process of replacing mine, so have to mark and cut fabric on a 5/8″ thick 4’x 8′ fiberboard crawling around the floor with knee pads. Very uncomfortable, so getting the new table installed is priority 1. Although the fiberboard, also called ‘homasote,’ is easy to stick tacks and pins in. If I did not want to spend for a ping-pong table, would consider putting a 4’x 8′ homasote board on legs or blocks for a table. My ‘new’ table was bought from the local classified ads for $75. The 5’x 10′ ping-pong tables are better because they often come on wheels, and the halves fold up so you can roll it against a wall when not in use. The old one came from Walmart, was well over $100, and was not as good quality as the new/used one. The cheap ones are a particle board that absorbs moisture and after a while the tops tend to cave a bit, making it difficult to draw lines accurately.
Both silnylon and silpolyester are sil coated, so cannot use masking and similar tapes. Bought some weights intended for just this purpose of holding the fabric in place, but also use thumb tacks or push pins (outside the seam allowance).
Have several long ALU rulers, 3′, 4′, a nice light skinny 6′ one, a 2 part one that is over 12′ when assembled, and a large ALU T-square. For curved tent seams, use curved rods made of tent pole tube, curtain hooks that attach to the tube ends, and cord that attaches to the hooks to keep the pole bowed.
For cutting, priced hot knives, and the decent ones are high cost. Tried utility knives, but sharpened Fiskars scissors often work better. Keep Fiskars sharpeners handy and use them regularly. You can slide the scissors along the cut line once the cut has been started. Of course, once the cut gets going, the tacks no longer keep the fabric taut, so both hands are needed to keep the fabric flat and cut at the same time. For those with good physical coordination, it is easier. The good news is you most often have a seam allowance, so the cut does not have to be as accurate as the marked seam line.
Before the seam is pinned in place, the seam allowance is trimmed to the needed width. For lap felled seams, if the fabric can hold a folded edge, that is also done with an iron, heat adjusted to make the edge without harming the fabric and its coating. With or without the folded edge, the ends of the seam are formed and tacked to the table, and the process begins of forming and pinning the seam. Pinning the seam with fine pins, when you can only work from one side, takes some practice. (Know that pros don’t have to do all that, but am not and never will be a pro seamster.)
It is a little different if the seam is being tailored right on the partially completed tent. Then just one line of pins is used parallel to the seam line to be sure the cat cut is good and the fabric is taut. Then the work is taken to the table and the seam redone and repinned as above. Note that on lap felled seams, the most used, the pins go in and out inside where the stitch lines will go on each side of the seam.
That Home Depot cutting guide sounds interesting. Will go take a look.
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