Sides of Hammock...rolled hems or bias tape?

I'm just about the start cutting into the mountain of fabric I've imported for my hammock projects.

I feel a mixture of :D and :scared:

On the hammock sides, I see a lot of folks do rolled hems of varying widths...is bias tape also popular? I see it pre-folded at the fabric stores here, and it looks rather professional, also in different widths. I bought some to play with in the machine and it makes really nice edges, more steady-looking than my rolled hem for sure ;)

However, I do plan on sewing on zippered bug netting in the near future, if not immediately, so perhaps the bias-taped edges would be too thick and interfere with sewing on the zippers?

Thoughts? :confused:

My Hennessey has some sort of tape on it. It has the netting and main hammock body sandwiched in the fold of the tape. So, if adding the net now it would work fairly well IMHO. If adding in the future may have to take the tape off first. Hope this helps.

On the HH two dissimilar fabrics, with different yarns, weaves, and stretch characteristics are joined. Having a bias tape reinforcement is probably a good idea in such a situation.

If the edge of the hammock you sew, er, inject is a simple edge with no net attachment I bet that the rolled hem would be just fine. Of course, if I was the fabricator I would use bias tape too (Disclosure: I am a "Heavy Hanger").

Jim
with no real-world experience in sewing a hammock!

Why not jump ahead to the zipper option, replacing rolled edge or bias tape? If you're adept at putting sliders on coil zippers, just separate a #3 zipper and put half on each edge of the hammock. When you're ready you can put zipper halves on a bugnet and attach with sliders on both sides. (Fiddle something at the ends. ;) )

Doing several diy's myself..and then trying to mod the standard hammock into a zip-net style, I learned that it would be easier to incorporate the zippers into the hems from the start. Takes more thinking from the start, but beats trying to do it later. Plus, if done right, it will look cleaner.
Joining it all together with bias tape/folded grosgarin will be even nicer. Possibly stronger?
Again this process will take some fiddling, as your now trying to sew three things (fabric, zipper and grosgrain) together at one time. Pretty tricky for a first timer.
I recommend lots of pins..
On my g-bird hammock, I used strips of camo fabric about 3" wide, folded it to make my own edge binding and sewed that on. Worked good and added a bit of camo detail around the hammock. I think it looks cool...but I'm biased ;)

biased, bias tape, get it....:lol: hahrhahahr

Bias tape accomplishes two things. It finishes an edge, giving a nice clean look. It prevents the edge from raveling _under normal use_. I am not convinced the edge of a hammock is normal use given the slipping and sliding that occurs loading and unloading. I haven't seen the HH zip models, but the old models had no excess wear on the edges and I don't think that is bias tape anyway. I would not replace a rolled hem on a hammock edge with bias tape except under two conditions. 1- You rolled the hem to start with. Which kind of defeats the purpose. 2- you carefully sear the edges to seal the weave. Which is a huge pain the tuckus in any event.

Bias tape stretches and is very pliable and flexible. It is not intended for heavy use applications. If you want to replace the hem with an edging you would be better off using a lightweight straight weave ribbon. But even then I think a rolled hem is the preferred choice in my mind.

Thanks, everyone...many words of wisdom to ponder...!

Yes rev. Rolling the hem is advised. Then apply your grosgrain/edging.
The roll does not need to be large, just enough to keep the fraying in check.

Even on my hammocks w/ attached bug screens I just roll hem the fabric and the noseeum and either stitch them together or to a zipper. Even the noseeum seems to make a durable connection when it is 3 layers thick in a rolled hem.