Rolled Hem - Tips and Tricks, advice for the two-fold impaired?

I have all my material for my two projects - Gathered End, and a WBBB DL. Started hemming one side of the gathered end, and WOW - ripstop nylon is sure slippery and (at least for me) a pain to handle. I have read the pros and cons of a hemmer foot - I have one, but it is narrow, and I need at least at 1/4 hem due frayed edge of my fabric.

So, Griz or anyone - I need some tips and advice on rolled hemmed, flat felled, etc - before I start sounding like a sailor/trucker :lol:

Again, thanks for all the help.

watch my We Make Gear vids. Some folks have found them helpful.

I have watched some of those in the past - can you call out which video specifically?

I ironed my creases in with a cool iron, seemed to help a lot

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Originally Posted by samjaynes

I have watched some of those in the past - can you call out which video specifically?

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I think the rolled hem is one of the first. The flat felled is not a useful stitch for a hammock body IMO. YMMV

I'm just starting out with making my own tarp, after reading all the trouble with keeping the slippery stuff in place to sew, I have a awesome solution. I tested it today and will be sewing some seams tomorrow, but here's goes... I purchased two products ...1. named HeatNBond, this is a permanent no-sew iron-on adhesive, this might be true for cottons but not for the Sil-Nylon I used as I could pull it apart ... so much for no sewing...2. Stitch Witchery also an iron-on adhesive. I placed both products on test pieces and both held perfectly.. providing a nice flat surface for sewing ... the price is under $2.00 a roll ... no pin holes ...just use the tip of the iron to tack a section in place then go back and press it...let it cool well then sew it...as I said I'll now proceed tomorrow with my tarp and photo the steps and post a thread on how it works out for me ... I used the stuff years back to hem pants and attach patches while in the USAF ..I too am not the best at sewing and this was a life saver for me then and looks like it will be again...

What I do now with my rolled hems is use 4 clothes pins. I form the roll on one end, clip it, move down 12 or so inches & clip it again, repeat, repeat. When the clothes pin gets to the edge of my sewing machine, I pull it off. When I've pulled them all off, I re-clip them & go. I like it much better than the straight pins I was using.

I just go for it, re-fold every foot or so by hand. After a bit of practice, it works well enough...

One trick: After folding, hold the free (unsewn) end of the fabric down low. That causes the edge of the sewing machine to force a crease just before the plate. Ripstop also has built-in guides, which helps.

My first hammocks had wildly variable hem widths... Didn't affect performance one bit... My more recent stuff looks a lot better, but still not quite professional...

I've been quoted as saying -- "I keep telling myself that if I make perfect seams, nobody will believe that I made it... " :D

i too ran into the same problem with my first diy hammock. what worked for me, which is close to what jred does is start the hem and place it into the sewing machine and manually turn the machine until the needle goes through the fabric. this works as an anchor and lets you roll about 12" - 18" at a time. the trick for me was to hold the already sewed end with one hand and the unsewn end with the other and pull the hem tight. you have to more or less pull the fabric through instead of the maching feeding it, but after some practice it become very easy to do.

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Originally Posted by JohnSawyer

I just go for it, re-fold every foot or so by hand. After a bit of practice, it works well enough...

One trick: After folding, hold the free (unsewn) end of the fabric down low. That causes the edge of the sewing machine to force a crease just before the plate. Ripstop also has built-in guides, which helps.

My first hammocks had wildly variable hem widths... Didn't affect performance one bit... My more recent stuff looks a lot better, but still not quite professional...

I've been quoted as saying -- "I keep telling myself that if I make perfect seams, nobody will believe that I made it... " :D

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This is exactly what I do. Line it up a little bit at a time...