Sewn up

Seven McFarlane Kirby of McFarlane Canvas in Fort Pierce accepts jobs of all sizes, from single cushions to complete boat covers. ELLEN GILLETTE

McFarlane Canvas covers the waterfront

BY ELLEN GILLETTE

T-tops and other types of boat covers that offer shade and protection from the rain are custom-made by McFarlane Canvas. These coverings make boating more versatile and enjoyable. MCFARLANE CANVAS

Seven McFarlane Kirby has been around water her entire life. Her father and older brother are ship’s captains; her younger brother is a sailboat enthusiast. The three siblings surf. The family lived on board a ship that carried supplies to missionaries in the Caribbean for two and half years. It’s not surprising, then, that when she started a business, boats were involved.

Eventually docking the mission boat in Fort Pierce, the McFarlanes settled here. Seven’s father, Keith, started a business, McFarlane Painting. Graduating from Fort Pierce Central High School in 1992, she later moved to Massachusetts before returning to the Treasure Coast.

She was divorced with two young daughters when she moved back. In addition to helping her father, Seven got a job with a local canvas company. Then, she got a job with another. “They were both scoundrels,” she says. “The last one skipped out with client deposits and owed me money.”

The owner did fortuitously leave supplies behind: an industrial sewing machine and a 24-by-12-foot worktable.

Seven acted on one of her favorite sayings: “Necessity is the mother of invention.” Armed with the skills, and now the equipment, she reinvented her life in 2014 by starting her own business. The first job for McFarlane Canvas was moving the gigantic table from the former owner’s warehouse to her newly rented space on Naco Road in northern St. Lucie County.

“With the help of my dad and friends, we wheeled it here on skateboards,” she recalls. “I think I got the better end of the deal on that one.”

WORKING MOM

Seven credits her business acumen to lessons learned from her father, beginning at age 19. “Working with customers, pricing things, estimating materials — that all came from working with him,” she says.

Initially, there was overlap between the two businesses. “But I wanted to do something else,” she says. While she was pursuing her creative passion, some showed up in her personal life, too. On a rare road trip north, she reconnected with Benjamin Kirby. They had first met in the second grade, then later at a youth camp. A few months after they got back in touch as adults, “I called and said, ‘I’m moving to Florida,’” Ben recalls. One sunrise in May 2016, surrounded by family and friends, the couple married at Fort Pierce Inlet State Park.

Every boat cover is unique, requiring custom patterning, sewing and fitting. MCFARLANE CANVAS

LEARNING CURVE

Some enclosures include windows constructed of vinyl, canvas and polycarbonate sheets as displayed by Seven McFarlane Kirby and Benjamin Kirby. ELLEN GILLETTE

“When Ben said, ‘I want to learn your trade,’ I almost had a heart attack,” Seven remembers. “I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is not going to work!’ I’m not a good teacher, which he can tell you. You have to watch what’s going on and kind of put it together yourself.”

The process of patterning, cutting, stitching, fitting and adjusting marine shades and seat covers is complex. “It’s like jigsaw puzzles,” Seven explains. “No job is the same. Nothing is exactly square. If I’m trying to focus on the job, get more jobs and trying to teach someone else how to do it? It was very stressful. In the long run, though, he’s really, really good at it.”

Skills that Ben had acquired as a carpenter — such as attention to detail — paid off. He is also an artist, crafting unique chairs that he hopes to show at a gallery one day. “There’s a level of creativity in working with canvas,” he says.

The couple has been working together for the entire eight years of marriage, saying that “Everything happened at once,” including their daughter, Sky. Ben was still learning the business when Seven’s pregnancy became difficult. “All of a sudden I was here by myself,” he says. “It was sort of ‘Fake it till you make it.’ Canvas isn’t like a piece of wood. The stretch factor alone was a major learning curve.”

He has since acquired the expertise and confidence that allows the two of them the flexibility to collaborate or work separately. “We try to give ourselves our own projects,” Seven says. “If we’re out patterning a job together, whoever’s going to actually do the job does the marking. He has his way; I have mine. That took some time to understand. I have to accept the way he wants to do his jobs and …,” she pauses to flash a grin. “He doesn’t have a choice. I was here first, so I can do whatever I want.”

STAYING BUSY

McFarlane Canvas has upholstered board bags for the surfing community, golf carts, even cars. But their specialty is boats — everything from single cushions to outfitting a 70-foot yacht with custom couches and covers.

Much of their business is what Seven calls “one and done” for clients just passing through, docked for a few weeks or months at one of Fort Pierce’s marinas. But recently, they’re seeing an increase in redos — jobs completed 10 years ago that finally need repair or replacement. Ankona Boats, a local skiff builder, provides monthly cushion orders. Summerlin Marine Construction also regularly refers business their way. Word of mouth, Facebook and Instagram also bring in clients. While McFarlane Canvas has worked in Vero and Stuart, there is enough local work to keep them busy. “We’re staying an average of three months out,” Ben says.

Fridays are reserved for estimates. “Sometimes people leave smaller items here so that I can price them,” Seven says. “But for bigger jobs, we go out to them.”

The shop has three sewing machines, two in use with a spare. Unlike sewing machines designed for home use, which feed fabric from the bottom plate, the Kirbys’ walking-foot industrial machines feed from the top as well. This feature is necessary for stitching canvas, heavy-weight vinyl and the polycarbonate sheets used for windows in boat coverings.