1) Title
For this final project, I named my kite “Purple” because when the pink and blue fabrics overlap, they look like purple.
2) Images
This is the drawing that I did when I first planned out how to design my kite. I ended up using the first design but slightly different.
In the first picture, it is my kite model that I made first. I had hard time making the model collapse and it was too fragile. The second and third ones are the second model that I made. This was so much stronger than what I made before, I also included the design and the shoe pattern for my kite.
This pictures were taken when I was hem stitching and French stitching them.
I practiced how to make the connecter and the end cap. The ribbon was hard to saw on because it was too thick.
These are the bag, spars, membranes and the handle that I made at the wood shop.
This is when I was half way done putting everything together.
This is how it turned out after I put everything.
Other views of the kite
This was when I was collapsing the kite.
This is an instruction paper for this kite.
Here are pictures of me flying the kite.
3) Reflection
- When I made the kite model, it helped me to understand dimension and designing for my kite so much better because I couldn’t quite understand how the model should collapse and how the skeleton should look like and how many spars I would need.
- I had hard time figuring out the design for m kite and also the skeleton itself. My drawing assisted my design process by helping me to figure out how the structure looks like and trying many designs for my kite and giving me an idea that which design would be the best one for my kite.
- At first, I attached wings on my kite model. However, it was hard for me to figure out how I can connect the wings (spars) to the body. Therefore, I simplified the steps.
- My project turned out slightly different that the spars were keep twisting. It was different from that I expected because I thought the spars would not be twisted. It happened because the spars were too long. Therefore, I cut the spars shorter, and cut the cross bars longer so it can have a better tension.
- 5. Through this project, I learned that the ribbon is very hard to saw on. I broke my needles several times. Also, when I saw wrong on the fabric, I could clearly see the holes on the fabric. The spars were kind of hard to cut all the way because of the fibers. When I cut it wrong, the fiber cut through my cuticle on my fingers.
- The tension really does effect on the design because if it does not have enough tension , the fabric looks very lodse. Mine didn’t have enough tension at first because I did not cut the cross bars long enough. After I cut the cross bars long enough, I got better tension for my kite.
- The easiest part of this project was the hem stitch and the most challenging part was the French stitch. They both were enjoyable and I really liked sewing even though I never used sewing machine or industrial machine before.
- What I learned about myself through doing this project was that I take a pretty long time when I learn something new. It was my first time using sewing machine, but as I got better at it, I really enjoyed using it even though it took me such a long time to get used to it.
