My first DIY hammock

[wbJohn]

I went from a 9.5 foot Walmart hammock with bugnet to a Dutchware Chameleon Wide but at six feet tall wondered what a twelve foot hammock might be like. Having my own sewing machine and experience making kites with it, this was a project in the back of my mind for a while. I went to the Lighthouse and Lobster Hang in Maine last weekend and scored some free fabric so there was no excuse to not try out making my own hammock.

First, I did a rolled hem on the long edges. The fabric was five yards long so I put it on my dining room table, measured 13 feet and cut off the extra. I marked both ends at six inches and pinned it together for another rolled hem to make the channels for the continuous loops. Three straight stitches on each end about a half inch apart and I was ready to insert the continuous loops. I made the ridgeline out of Zing It with an adjustable length by splicing a fixed loop with a locked brummel on one end and a constrictor loop on the other (kind of a very long whoopie sling but with only about 6 inches of adjustability).

It took about four to five hours with a bunch of fumbling with misfed bobbin thread and tension adjustments, but I'm happy with it. I even tested it out with suit pants on, that's faith

hammock1.jpg
hammock2.jpg

[alphabennett]

Looks good! Might be a steeper angle than most but if that's where you're comfortable more power to you!

[heyduff]

Nice job! I just made my first hammock this week, also a gathered end, some rolled hems, functional sewing...I imagine I know how you felt with accomplishment!

I am setting up to make a homemade bridge hammock next!

[Crazytown3]

Nice job! Looks good to me. I like your hanging posts too.

Dress pants and black gold toe socks. That could be me laying there.

[wbJohn]

Looks good! Might be a steeper angle than most but if that's where you're comfortable more power to you!

That's why I made the structural ridgeline adjustable. The calculator said 83% of 144 inches is 119.5. That's where the ridgeline is in that picture. I'll fiddle with it until it is comfortable and then make a fixed srl.

My order from Dutch just came in, so I made new CLs (red and grey) to replace the blue ones. As I learned at the Harrold Parker Hang, "red is head". The blue ones were promised to Tollermama for her girl scouts.

[jeff-oh]

Dress pants and black gold toe socks. That could be me laying there.

I though the same thing... It is nice.

[Randonneur]

What fabric did you use? That looks exactly like the 12 footer I made out of Hyper D XL in olive green. I also, with Dutch's assistance at Hangcon, made my ridgeline out of yellow zing it and It has red and blue CL's. I originally attached whoppie slings to it but it's so long that now I just use 9' tree straps and a beckett hitch. 12 footers are the way to go for comfort.

[Eidson]

Looks very nice and a great looking spot to hang it.

You've started to go even further down the rabbit hole of diy'ing with a hammock build...

It took about four to five hours with a bunch of fumbling with misfed bobbin thread and tension adjustments...

Don't worry about these. I've been on a huge diy binge knocking project after project off a long bucket list for the last month and a half. I had hardly a single mishap and everything was turning out to my high standards. Then last night it was just one of those times...broken needles, bird-nesting in the bobbin, tension issues and so on. Funny, though definitely frustrating how it works sometimes.

[wbJohn]

Looks very nice and a great looking spot to hang it.

You've started to go even further down the rabbit hole of diy'ing with a hammock build...





Don't worry about these. I've been on a huge diy binge knocking project after project off a long bucket list for the last month and a half. I had hardly a single mishap and everything was turning out to my high standards. Then last night it was just one of those times...broken needles, bird-nesting in the bobbin, tension issues and so on. Funny, though definitely frustrating how it works sometimes.

I've made kites for many years. This sewing was much easier, just a bunch of really long straight lines. I even had thread that matched the color of the fabric