Easy-sewing hammock fabric?

[deejayen]

I bought some coated ripstop nylon last year to practice sewing rolled hems and flat felled seams, but it was tricky stuff! I didn't fancy my chances of sewing a straight 11' rolled hem!

Which hammock fabric is easiest to handle for a beginner?

I'm in the UK, and I'm not sure if all the commonly-used hammock fabrics are available over here. I might need to put in a huge order (160Euro minimum) to Extremtextil or to Ripstop By The Roll, but I'd prefer to be able to order shorter lengths locally so that I can experiment more easily and at less cost.

[nanok]

well, i speak from second hand information (i was not doing the sewing, but more "coaching"), so grain of salt etc: they are all tricky compared to normal fabric, the lighter the trickier, but it's not the only factor. it's hard to say until you try your hand at a few hammocks, as it depends on sewing machine, tension settings etc, but it is, in the end, skill you will aquire.

my suggestions would be: first of all, don't worry too much about it, do enjoy the process, at first seams will not be quite straight, you might want to redu some, etc, it's part of it, enjoy it. i still have a hammock i think from my partners first attempts, with uneven hems and wavy seams, i think it's cool, i like it.

aside from that: get proper tools, just some basics: a good seam ripper, good scisors for fabric, if possible a rolling cutter and a cutting board is really nice (though maybe not essential at first), and do get a hemming foot, or a set of them, imo for stuff like hammocks (looong hems), there's no reason to not have that, my sewing student at the time told me that if i hadn't come up with the idea to get the hemming feet set, she was about to give up in frustration, so it does make a big difference.

i like extremtextil, i think they have a lot of good stuff (though not exactly cheap, i think fairly priced)

[WV]

For a hammock, try breathable, uncoated 1.9 oz. (may be called 70 d. ) ripstop nylon. Use an iron to press the first fold, then again for the second. Then pin the seam every 12" or so. Then sew, using fairly long stitches. Evaluate, and then add another row of stitching. This seems like a lot of fiddly steps, but it's not. As you gain experience, you'll figure out which parts you can omit or modify. Grizzly Adams says, "Real men use irons." (Real women, too.)

[offGridDownUnder]

If you know someone that sews clothing and/or costumes talking with them, and showing them your fabric may be helpful. Some of the decorative fabrics uses have the same issues of being slippery, fragile, etc.

This is particularly helpful as there are tricks about the tension for bobbins, stitch length, etc. that are useful for lighter fabrics, so someone with experience may be nearby to pass on their tricks.

I'm not sewing these days, but an example is I used to feed toilet paper with the fabric (coated side up, paper lets it slide under the foot). You may also find some good information in videos online - Ripstop by the Roll has released some: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vk-Mdf0MI_w

[Cruiser51]

I bought some coated ripstop nylon last year to practice sewing rolled hems and flat felled seams, but it was tricky stuff! I didn't fancy my chances of sewing a straight 11' rolled hem!

Rolled hems and flat seams sounds like silnylon or silpoly .... both are light, slippery and as you say a bit tricky to get the hang of sewing and handling.

However, moving to a hammock material is a whole different world, first off losing that "sil" coating gets rid of the slippery aspect and for most hammock projects you will want to up the weight. This makes the cloth a lot easier to handle and sew.

VW is suggesting 1.9 ripstop as a starting point, for practice and cost that is a really good place to start. It is easy to sew and handle and can support a decent loading, it is what I used for a few of my prototypes. Depending on your weight loading needs Hyper D 1.6 (RSBTR) is another good fabric choice (IMO) and has a nice hand feel. Either of these clothes will be pretty cost effective, easy to sew and produce quite serviceable gear.

Brian

[deejayen]

Thanks very much for all the advice and tips.

I assumed all ripstop material would have either a silicon or PU coating. However, I now see PointNorth in the UK sell some uncoated ripstop, but it's 55gsm, which I think is quite a bit lighter than 1.9oz. Here: https://www.profabrics.co.uk/collect...40444652585049


I'd prefer to buy locally in the UK until I get a bit more experience and feel better able to make use of a larger order from somewhere like Extremtextil.

I did buy some additional feet for my machine (an older Bernina) included a rolled hem foot and a lapped hem foot. It's been year or so since I last practiced, and I think I was making progress, but it was some way off making (especially starting) a usable seam every time.

I'll maybe buy some of that ripstop fabric and start practising again, then make a stuffsack or two before attempting a hammock...then a tarp...

[slugbait]

On the subject of starting the seam- it sometimes happens that the edge of the fabric gets sucked down into the needle plate hole. To prevent this, take a small scrap of fabric, fold it over and butt it up against your main fabric piece. Begin sewing on the scrap piece and continue onto the main piece. Then trim off the scrap which will be dangling from the main piece. If you have or can get a straight stitch plate (small round hole) instead of the zigzag plate (oblong hole) there will be less chance of fabric getting dragged down into the hole. This happens more often the lighter weight the fabric.

[deejayen]

Thanks very much.

I did try that technique last year - it's been so long that I can't remember how successful (or not) I was with it! I also tried to buy a straight stitch plate for my machine, but Bernina said they're no longer available.

Anyway, I've ordered some heavier ripstop fabric, so I'll see how I get on with that.

[CandiFrog]

I have made two hammocks starting with 12' of 1.9 oz ripstop nylon. As was mentioned, the stuff is fiddly and you just have to go slow and not get in a rush. Pin the seams as was said. I did one seam at a time to pin. I hate getting poked with pins. For me, I didn't find that ironing made a lot of difference but it does help in the pinning. Setting the machine stitch length and tension is where the most help comes from. Practice will make you better at dealing with the light weight fabrics. I only dislike using "stretchy material more than the non-stretch ripstop nylon.

Making only a single wide hammock myself, to learn how to sew the stuff. In the end the measurement was 11'4". Turned out to be the best laying hammock of all the ones I have. I also realized I dont need the wider width with the extra length.

[WV]

Good response. An alternative to pinning is to "spot weld" with a pencil-type soldering iron, working on a glass or metal surface. Of course, burning your fingers isn't much better than getting stuck by pins - maybe worse.