Summery Stick Sailboat

0 Flares 0 Flares ×

By General Crafts Contributor Michelle

Make a whimsical sailboat to decorate your home, and evoke thoughts of cool coastal breezes for summer.

Here’s what you’ll need to make your own:

A dry stick about 2-inches in diameter and cut to be about 12-inches long. (Look for one with a slight curve, if possible.)
A dry, straight stick about 1/4-inch thick and 14-inches tall, for the mast.
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Screw Eyes.
Fabric (Fat quarters are the perfect size for making this size boat sails.)
Baker’s twine. (I used blue and red.)
Various trims (I recommend: Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings Natural/Red/Cream, Tim Holtz Idea-ology Trimmings Nat Black Cream, and Tim Holtz Idea-ology Paper String Air Mail.)
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments Arrows.
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Plaquettes.
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Star Fasteners.
Small brass buttons.
1/2-inch wire nails.
Embroidery floss.
Needle-nose pliers.
Scissors.
Craft knife.
Hot glue gun and glue sticks.
Hammer.
Hand saw.
Drill and drill bits.

To begin your boat, figure out how your stick best sits so it is stable. In the middle of your stick, use your drill to make a small hole for your mast. My stick was about 1/4-inch in diameter, so I made my hole slightly smaller so I would have a snug fit.

Use your craft knife to whittle down the end of your stick so it fits tightly into the hole you drilled.

Add some hot glue, and secure the mast into place.

Use your pliers to tightly screw 2 screw eyes into each end of your stick; this is where we will tie the sail to secure it.

To cut your triangles for the sails, lay your boat out on the fabric so the mast is resting along one edge. Make a snip in the edge of the fabric to mark how tall you want the sail to be (I suggest making your sails an inch or so lower than the mast, so you have room to add a flag and decorations to the top), and then make a snip in the fabric about 1/2-inch away from your screw eye. You don’t want to cut the sail so it goes right up to the screw eye, you want some space so we can add a “rope” to tie the sail to the screw eye.

Fold your sail diagonally from each of the two snips you made, so you have a triangle. Cut along the fold to make your first triangle sail. Repeat with the other side of the sail.

Cut a length of baker’s twine to glue along the bottom edge of your sail. Make sure to leave a couple of inches extra off of the pointed end so you can tie it onto the screw eye. Glue it on either the front or back of the sail, it doesn’t matter, it’s just your preference whether or not you want to see it.

Glue the sail to the back of the stick mast (you’ll put the glue onto the good side, and glue it onto the back of the stick), so when the sails are both glued on you can still see the stick running up the middle of them.

Using the tail of baker’s twine that you left, tie the sail firmly to the screw eye so it is taught.

Add a flag to the top of the mast using a piece of ribbon. Cut a point onto one end, and then wrap the other end around the top of the mast, and glue to secure.

Tie a length of baker’s twine from the top of the mast, to the screw eye at one side. Glue small pieces of fabric and ribbon onto the twine to make flags.

Insert star fasteners into the sail to decorate it. Use embroidery floss to make small tassels to tie onto the mast (See the above pictorial directions for easy tassel making.). Fasten a number plaque onto the wood by securing it with some hot glue, and then carefully hammering nails into the holes on the sides. Tie an arrow onto the mast with baker’s twine, or secure one to the side of the boat by wrapping it with baker’s twine.