DIY Gathered End Hammock End Seam Question

[CIVENGR87]

Hi there! First post on the forums for me.

I am a DIY'er. I try to do everything myself before I pay someone else to do it. From guitars to cabinets to my first DIY hammock.

So naturally I've been ordering lengths of zing-it and Amsteel from Dutch for whoopie slings and ridge lines and of course learning how to do it from the forums.

I owned a grand trunk ultra light for about a year when I realized that as an individual who is 6'4" I am too tall for that thing. I decided it was time to replace it. But of course I had to make it myself this time. I ordered 3 yards of argon from Dutch and went to work.

I sewed zigzag rolled seams all the way down the length of the 12 feet. Then I decided to try to gather the ends whip them and find the magic length. I convinced myself I would untie it and sew the end seams later.

Found the magic length (11') and now later has come around. Now the question:

Do I need to sew the end seams? I assumed originally they were just there to keep the suspension from sliding off. But I haven't noticed any slipping.

Thanks!

[ocnlogan]

I've made somewhere around 8-9 gathered end (and whipped) hammocks so far.

I do believe that you need to hem the ends. Not because it will fray, but because the rolled hem will make things larger by doubling/trippling the thickness of the edge, it is literally thicker behind the whipping, and cannot slide through the whipping, which has tightened to the thickness of one layer of fabric.

I have noticed that the whipping starts to slide a bit, and without it I'd be afraid it would fall out if I didn't re-whip it from time to time (if it wasn't hemmed). The hammock I noticed this on, took about a year for it to slide towards the end, if that helps at all. So its not like if you don't hem it, that you'll get dropped all of a sudden as everything falls apart. So if you decide not to, just inspect your gear before you head out .

Good luck with whatever you do .

[Snowball]

My advice is do a hem. It’s your insurance. You won’t get any kind of warning IF its slides over the edge and you will drop hard on the ground like if a cord snaps.
Hem.png

[aufevermike]

I have made a few 11.5'ers using 4 yards of material. I hemmed the long sides and on the ends I folded 3" and folded that again and triple stitched with about 1/2 between starting from the inside. This will create a channel so that you can run a continuous loop that you can easily make from your am steel(28" will make you a 8" loop" then just run that into the channel, larks head then larks head your whooped on to that. Poof, a nice large comfy DIY. Then make yourself an adjustable ridge line so you can hang "stuff" and get a nice sag. this forum is awesome!!!