Hello again. (and apologies if this arrives twice.  Bloody web mail 
client)

Regarding construction - there are two main approaches, and which one you 
use depends primarily on what design the kite is.  If the upper and lower 
skins are to be made in one piece (traditional, non-shaped skin designs, 
such as, for example, the eliminator) you use method 1 described below, 
or probably better described in stuntkites 2.  For shaped skin designs, 
this method is also possible, but it can be somewhat easier to use method 
2 described below.

Method 1.

Attach all ribs to the lower skin, using a straight stitch.  Sew vent 
onto leading edges of lower and upper skins (if you're using gauze).  
Make sure the seams will be inside the finished kite ;-)
You now have a lower skin with all ribs attached and the upper skin 
attached to it at the leading edge.  fold the upper skin under the lower 
skin, so all the ribs are on the outside.  Now, starting at one wingtip, 
sew a rib at a time onto the upper skin and gauze.  proceed from this 
wingtip across the span, pushing the finished parts into the centre.
When you get to the final tip rib, stop.  You now have a kite that's all 
sewn apart from the upper skin on the final tip.  turn that final cell 
inside out (around the rest of the kite).  You will now have an inside 
out final cell that you can sew, and the rest of the kite will be stuffed 
into that cell or protruding out of the trailing edge.  Sew the final 
cell up, and pop it 'through itself' to turn the kite rightside out.  
Finish the trailing edge (a simple roll seam will do, or a straight 
stitch and hotcut.

Things to watch out for are:
- Starting from the wrong tip, and ending up with the whole damn kite 
  under the arm of the machine
- Sewing the kite onto itself.
- Running out of thread half way through a seam
- Sewing up the last *£%^£)(&*^ cell
- Missing a cell.

But it's pretty straightforward really.

For shaped skins, this is how I do it.

Forget the 'lower-upper, tip to tip' approach.  Instead, sew each cell 
complete.  Start at _both_ tips at once, and work your way into the 
middle (this is bloody difficult if you're not doing shaped skin single 
panels, but means the cell you end up having to stuff the kite into is 
bigger.

First off, for each cell, attach lower, upper and gauze.
Do the tips (easy, just like doing a 'normal' constrcution job above).  I 
tend to sew lower skin then upper skin, starting at the leading edge.  
Saves on inaccuracies...
Lay the pieces together as follows:




   --+------------- Rib
   --+------------------------ tipmost skin
   --+-------------------------- the other (not-tipmost) skin
     ^
     |
  Sew here

When unfolded, it will look like this...



      |
      |
      |
    ==+
-----/ \--------

... maybe.

Work your way in towards the centre, a rib at at time, on both sides. By 
the time you get to the final rib, you will have two 'half kites' and a 
spare rib.  It's now time to fold the whole thing into itself as above.  
However, the amount of kite that has to be stuffed into itself is only 
one half, and the cell you're futzing with should be bigger than the tip 
cells.  You _did_ choose proportional rib spacing, didn't you?

Again, seal up the trailing edge how you see fit.

In all cases:

- Use the longest stitch, fattest thread and least tension you can get 
  away with.
- Sew from leading edge to trailing edge, to avoid the whole kite being 
  off kilter and to avoid nasty glitches at the leading edge
- Be accurate
- Service your machine before starting
- Use new needles.  I kill a needle per kite at least.
- Prepare all your parts beforehand.  Ribs should be crossvented, and 
  have w lines attached if necessary.
- Don't use pins, or if you do make sure they're only on the seam side.
  Overall, a water spray is better to make the fabric stick together, and
  caution and experience will help with those fiddly curved bits.
- Double check you've got everything the right way round before sewing. I 
  lose track of the number of ribs I've sewn in backwards, cells inside 
  out, seams I've put on the outside....
- If you're using reinforcing line along the lower skin, do the whole 
  damn thing in one go, as you sew the skins together.  This means sewing 
  through 3 layers of fabric and a piece of line.  This means a beefy 
  machine.  And a SHARP NEEDLE

Hope this is of some help.

Simon 

More wise words from Simon:

Oh, by the way...

I forgot to mention I personally prefer sewing the uppper skin first.  It 
saves buggering around with sharp curves when you have half the kite 
shoved into the cell you're sewing.  The lower skin tends to be less 
radically curved, and thus easier to sew when you're trying to force the 
edges together.

Simon