In the past couple of months, I've tried to switch from bed to hammock, but have failed. When hanging indoors, I either have a calf ridge (Warbonnet Blackbird & Traveler), or can't lie flat enough (Ticket to the Moon, Brazilian hammock). The strange thing is that I didn't have a calf ridge problem outdoors. The only thing I couldn't change indoors was the distance between attachment points, therefore I assume, that a longer distance helps with the calf ridge. But I can't do anything about it.

I have started to think about hammock construction as a result. What determines the flatness and the comfort of the lay? It has often been mentioned that hammock length seems to be an important factor. But still, different hammock brands with the same length feel very different. So there must be something else.

When I was experimenting with whipping, I found that pulling the outsides of the fabric into the whipping creates more of a bathtub shape. Has anybody ever tried doing the opposite and cut the hammock body concave? Like this:



I'm just thinking that if you take a rectangle and bunch up the ends, it's impossible that the middle will be flat - it will always retain a bathtub shape to some degree. My guess is that this is why longer hammocks are flatter: the longer the body rectangle is, the less influence the bunched up end has on the hammock. If you were to make a hammock 10m long, provided you had a place to hang it, I doubt you would feel any curvature at all. However, all the DIY-manuals I found suggest taking a rectangular piece of fabric. Is there an error in my reasoning?

Sewing is not my strong point, but I'm tempted to get a piece of linen fabric and test the theory. Maybe somebody else has done something similar and could give some advice. After all, it's probably important how deep or shallow the curve is (dependent on the length). I'd be interested to hear the thoughts of more experienced DIYers. Maybe it's a bad idea and I should rather go for a bridge design?