Step-by-Step: Building a Revolution kite — A 112-Photo Making Of

Want to dive behind the scenes of a complete quad line kite build? Dutch kiteflier Christiaan van Oosterhoudt carefully documented every step of making a Revolution kite—from the first templates to the finished sail. No less than 112 photos show his entire process!

With his permission, we’re sharing this rare making of. We’ve added captions, translated into French and English, and sometimes rearranged the sequence for clarity. A valuable resource to see, in detail, how a quad-line kite comes to life.

Thank you, Christiaan, for sharing!

Contents

Intro photos

Finished quad-line kite (Revolution type) after this tutorial

Christiaan van Oosterhoudt in his workshop

Preparing the sail panels

Four layers of ripstop to cut four half-sails at once

Releasing panels by cutting melt bridges

Assembling and sewing the panels

Very important: test stitches on a scrap

Check sewing machine settings, especially thread tension

At the end, set the feed to zero → gives a clean little stitch

Adding the two wingtip reinforcements

Small template for the wingtip reinforcement

Result after sewing one side (note: outer edges only for now)

Add the center reinforcement (between the two half-sails)

Kevlar reinforcement (center of the Revo), cut 12 mm

Make a hem on the right side (a bit tricky), then sew

Final result of the triangular reinforcement — back view

Practice making the leading edge

Test 1: build from the sail

Run a straight stitch about 8 mm from the top

Position a Dacron strip to make a reinforcement

Fold the Dacron strip across the width beyond the mesh

Fold the top 8 mm toward you over the previous straight stitch

Sew along the resulting band (note the thickness: layers of mesh, ripstop, and Dacron)

Bring in a Dacron strip folded lengthwise

Slide the Dacron strip into the reinforcement

Sew the upper Dacron strip together with the mesh

Test 2: build the leading edge first and attach it to the sail

Second leading-edge test using new Dacron and mesh pieces and the other end of the ripstop

Assembling the sleeve and the mesh reinforcement

Fold the top down over the straight stitch

Test 2 left excess Dacron at the mesh, so Christiaan went with method 1

Make the leading edge

Four Dacron pieces for the leading-edge reinforcements

Lay down the Dacron and secure the edge with a straight stitch

Add another reinforcement with the same technique and stitch

Fold the top edge, then fold the mesh and Dacron upward (right side in the photo), and finish with a zigzag stitch

Fold the Dacron strip lengthwise to form the leading-edge sleeve/tunnel and set the crease by sliding along a crisp edge

Mark the corners for trimming and sew the starting point

Guide line: start sewing the leading edge 1 mm from the line

Slide the reinforcement strip and the Kevlar at the back between the Dacron layers

Punch the holes and install the end caps

Template for melting holes in the corner reinforcements

Cutting small rings from reinforced tubing

Opposite view of the outer-side end cap attachment

Sail nearly finished! All that’s left is to make the bridle

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