Hand-made canvas sail seam sample, 2003

Contributed by an individual through Maine Historical Society

Item 14520 enlarge zoom add to album

Up until the 1900s, all heavy sails were sewn by hand. The selvage ends of canvas are overlapped and stitched together with two rows of flat stitching.

Sitting at a bench, using the seaming palm and the bench hook, a sailmaker could expect to stitch 100 yards of a single row of stitching in a ten-hour day.

This canvas was sewn by Grant Gambell, a sailmaker in Camden, and demonstrates the typical seams seen on a hand-sewn canvas.

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Title: Hand-made canvas sail seam sample, 2003
Creator: Gambell, Grant
Creation Date: 2003
Subject Date: 2003
Town: Camden
County: Knox
State: ME
Media: Cotton
Object Type: Physical Object

For more information about this item, contact:

Maine Historical Society
489 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101
(207) 774-1822
http://www.mainehistory.org

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