Need fabric recommendation for lawn targets

36" radius = 72" circles. That could be cut from a single width of "double wide" fabric, but I don't know if canvas or ripstop nylon (or ballistric nylon) comes that wide. 5 yard radius = 360" diameter. You would first have to join several 10 yard long lengths of fabric side-by-side, than cut the circle. Or a whole bunch of pie-shaped pieces and join them.

Are you planning on leaving these out in the weather or packing them away every day?

It would retain its shape until a stiff wind blows... or someone walks on it... or......

I don't understand what you mean by "...cut the fabric

Sunbrella, ripstop nylon, ballistic nylon... Se Penny's site for other outdoor fabrics:

Sorry, my finger slipped. But most of what I was going to write is included in my message, I just failed to run spell check.

I really do recommend you peruse Penny's site:

's the outdoor fabric expert.

They usually come about 60" wide.

Weight pockets would solve this. Just slip the weights in round the edge.

Depends what she has, and the weight of the canvas.

Personally I'd use a felled seam. Or turn the edge under, glue it down with basting glue, and lap over the under fabric. Gives a neater edge. You wouldn't need to fell coated ripstop as it doesn't fray much.

Face it with 3" wide arcs of fabric, and form weight pockets (see above) in the facing.

Are you trying to make roundels, like on military aircraft, or archery targets? I should go for 6" bands of colour, whatever size your finished target, or you'll be sewing forever!

Rip-stop nylon is slippery as hell. Canvass blunts nedles fairly quickly (use jeans needles), and large acreages of cloth are heavy and will need lots of support. Two tables in an L shape with you in the corner with the machine will help to support the cloth.

I see that I wasn't as clear as I should have been. When I said "circle", I should have said "ring". The targets won't be solid disks, but circular rings. For the smaller targets, the rings would be maybe

2-3" wide. For larger targets, wider.

I would probably pack them up most of the time, but I'd want them to be able to tolerate a little weather.

Suppose I have some fabric that is 2 yards (72") wide. I can make targets up to 1 yard in radius in a single piece (no sewing).

To make a 1-yard (radius) target, I would draw a circle with a 1-yard (36") radius on one end of the fabric. The circle would touch both sides and one end. When I cut it out, I'd have a solid circle with a radius of 1 yard (diameter = 2 yards or 72").

But I don't want a solid target, I want a ring. If I want the edge of the ring to be 3" wide, I'd draw another circle inside this circle with a radius that is 3" shorter, or 33" in this case. When I cut out this smaller circle, I will have a ring with a 36" radius and an edge that is 3" wide and a small circle with a radius of 33" (which is probably waste).

Is that any clearer?

For targets that are larger than the width of the fabric (most of my targets), it will be necessary to cut the ring in pieces (segments) and then sew them together to make the complete ring.

To make a target with a radius of 3 yards (diameter = 6 yards), I'd need fabric 6 yards (216") wide. Even if this were available, I wouldn't want it, because most of it would be waste. I don't want a solid circle, just a ring a few inches wide.

I called a canvas store. Most canvas material comes in rolls that are

5 yards (60") wide. Here's where the mathematics comes in. ;-)

To make a target with a 5-yard radius (10 yard diameter), I'll need 6 pieces cut from a roll of fabric that is 5 yards wide. (I show the calculations below.)

Here's the procedure to make a ring 3" wide with a radius of 5 yards. This will work on fabric of any width.

1. Get a piece of string 5 yards long with a pin on one end and a pencil on the other.
2. Lay the fabric on a solid surface. Pin one end of the string to the center of the fabric 5 yards from one end.
3. Draw an arc (radius = 5 yards) on the end of the fabric. The arc will touch the end of the fabric and go to both sides.
4. Move the pencil 3" down the string (radius = 3" less) and draw another arc. This is one segment of the ring.

The narrower the fabric, the more segments will be needed. The number of pieces can be calculated by first calculating the angle of the wedge drawn in Step 3 above. The formula is:

Angle = 2 x arcsin((Fabric Width/2)/Target Radius)

For the example above,

Angle = 2 x arcsin((5/2)/5) = 60°

(I have done some conversions from radians to degrees that is now shown.)

Now all that is needed is to calculate how many 60° segments there are in a whole circle. Since a circle has 360°, the formula is:

Number of segments = 360 / Angle

In this case, 360 / 60 = 6. We will need 6 segments to make a target with a radius of 5 yards out of fabric that is 5 yards wide.

Here's a table showing how many pieces are needed for targets with radii up to 10 yards from fabric 5 yards wide:

Target Angle Angle Radius Radians Degrees Pieces 3 yd 1.97 rad 112.89° 3.2 4 yd 1.35 rad 77.36° 4.7 5 yd 1.05 rad 60.00° 6.0 6 yd 0.86 rad 49.25° 7.3 7 yd 0.73 rad 41.85° 8.6 8 yd 0.64 rad 36.42° 9.9 9 yd 0.56 rad 32.26° 11.2 10 yd 0.51 rad 28.96° 12.4

Now I am quite sure that is way more information than you needed or wanted. ;-)

In any case, I need a fabric that is stiff enough to hold its shape when formed into rings of this size, can be sewn on a home sewing machine, is more or less outdoor safe, and comes in bright colors.

Yep, that's what the canvas shop said.

Brilliant. That's just what I need. I can probably find small pieces on metal bars or rods, cut them to the width of the ring, and sew little pockets for them. In the meantime, I can just lay them on top of the targets to get a sense of how many I need.

Thank you for that suggestion.

She has a Singer 9110. I think it's 25-30 years old. The guy at the cancas store said that many of their awning fabrics can be sewn on a home machine.

Like this:

I didn't explain myself very well. I am NOT making complete circles (disks). I am making rings -- just the outer edge of the circle, about

3-4" wide. The center will be open.

I won't have acreage of material for sewing -- just the arcs.

OK - Polo mints rather than carpets! ;) I get it...

OK, just make the whole thing double: sandwich your flat weights between the two layers and sew them in. You might need 4 for the smaller circles and 6-8 for the larger.

Cut your arcs and join them to make two circles... Lay them right sides together and sew the INNER circle seam. Clip the seam allowance from the cut edge almost to the stitching line... Turn through to the right way out. Topstitch.

Turn under and baste or glue (Elmers will do, but allow it to dry!) a half inch hem on the outside edge of each circle, turning the hem into the middle of the sandwich, as it were.

Decide where you want the weight pockets and draw a line from the inner edge to the outer edge at each side of the pocket. Sew along the lines. Slip the weights in, and then just topstitch the whole thing closed all round the edge.

You can get scenery canvas 72" wide from Dharma Trading Co. It's natural colored but you can dye it with supplies they sell. The extra width might simplify some of your cutting.

I see that you are in the UK. We call them Life Savers over here.

I'll have to study these instructions a bit and probably screw it up a few times. I've done a little sewing, but have no real experience.

You have an interesting website. It looks like you are up for all kinds of curious projects. Would this be something you might be willing to do?

I'm going to call a couple of local shops and also talk to some tent makers. But, if I can't find someone local, this can be done at a distance. I'm happy to make the templates for the pieces.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for the link. The extra 12" will help some.

Yup, for me, easy-peasy! ;) NOT something you'd want to pay international shipping for... I could probably find fabric this end and post the completed project, leaving you to slip weights into the pockets. Email me if you want me to price it for you.

Puhleeze people! This is obviously a troll. (And one with a lot of "bites")

With golf, the purpose is to put the ball in the hole or at least come as close to it as possible. You DON'T don't use a circle to aim at; you aim at a flagstick. So you stick a flag in the ground and go for it. A stick will serve perfectly.

If you want to sew something, affix a flag to the top of it! (Now don't take off on "what material?, what size?, what kind of thread? how big a hem?, what number should I put on the flag? or how about the tapes to tie it to the pole? etc etc)

JPBill

There are several avid golfers in my family, and I've never once had any of them or their friends request I make circles to use to aim the ball. I thought maybe it was something new for children till DD reminded me there was nothing like that in the kiddie's golf sets bought for her children.

Oh well, I suppose some people would/could use rope as he wrote or canvas if he is a beginner, but I don't see why not use the flag as golfers do? Emily

Well, you are a silly little twit, aren't you?

The targets are for practicing chips and pitches. Judging from your comments, you know nothing whatsoever about golf, so let me educate you (assuming that is even possible). With both chips and pitches, you do *NOT* aim at the pin. This is a common mistake. You aim at a spot short of the pin so that the ball will roll to the pin. For chips, it;s well short of the pin. For pitches, closer. If you don't believe me, go ask any pro.

Plonk.

Disagreement is encouraged. Unfounded suspicion may be considered an understandable mistake. Name-calling is well outside the boundary of civilized behavior.

Joy Beeson

Calling me a troll is not name calling?

Responding to Square Peg's post is a flagrant Starguard violation, but my writing-teacher hat keeps jumping off the coat rack, so I've posted a reply in rec.crafts.textiles.misc, which was created for posts that don't fit other groups in the rec.crafts.textiles hierarchy, and which (at the moment) has no conversations to disrupt.

Starguard? More information please.

Snitched from a quoted quote and posted without the author's permission:

Starguard's Guaranteed Fire Extinguisher

A very wise Fidonet system operator once told me her "magic formula" for putting out flamewars. I have since posted it to two newsgroups and seen it praised by their administrators. And it's so SIMPLE....

Take the premise that chronic flamers have an ego problem. Consider what result they hope to achieve: to get people "going", to get a reaction. So! What to do? Follow this very simple plan:

Ignore them.

If you feel you absolutely MUST answer them, answer them only ONCE, no matter what else they reply with. (I don't care if you have to bite your lip, kick your desk, get up and run around the room...sit on your hands. Deny them the satisfaction!)

If you DO break down and answer them: refuse to stoop to their level, no matter what the provocation. (Why should you allow them to drag you down to their childish level?!)

(I might add that part of the genius of Starguard's Plan is that answering ONLY ONCE forces you to make a careful, well-reasoned rebuttal...try to hew to this part of the formula. She got her inspiration from a rule West Point gave up because it was TOO effective....)

But most of all: IGNORE them. That's the worst torture of all to an egotist!

And it WORKS.

Suze Hammond snipped-for-privacy@agora.rain.com with thanks to "Starguard" SysOp of "the Overworked Dragon BBS", Portland, OR

Yes, it works if you can persuade people to do it. In my past life, I spent a few years moderating message boards. I recommended, demanded, wheedled, whined, pleaded and begged posters to follow this simple, logical, common-sensical method of dealing with "trolls" -- a word which we moderators never, ever used. But there is this basic Maslovian need

- after food, shelter, and sex comes the need to have the last word. ;-)