I hunted though this sight looking for different attachment methods. I also have a few of my own. I would like to collect all the possibilities into one thread. I am searching for the most elegant way to attach a grosgrain loop to a 1.1 sil-nylon tarp; specifically corners and side attach points. Ridge lines are pretty strong with flat felled seams attached to webbing, so they are sort of a no brainier.
Here are the methods I have collected so far in no particular order. Comments are desired. If you have a different method send it my way and I’ll make a nice diagram.
One of the tangential questions I am pondering is; how strong does a loop need to be?
All testes were preformed with regular Gutterman 100% polyester thread
Test #1
½” double fold perimeter hem: attach the ½”grosgrain loops to the hem only with bar stitches parallel to the hem.
Result: Threads ripped lifting a 30 pound weight.
Test #2
¾ “ double fold perimeter hem with 8” of ¾” webbing sandwiched inside, attach ½” grosgrain to one side of hem with bar stitches parallel to the hem.
Result: Thread ripped lifting a 50 pounds, The tarp had no visible damage except for the missing loop. Repairs would be a snap.
Test #3
4mm rolled hem with special presser foot. A layer of 1.1 sil-nylon patch, edges folded once and hemmed. ½” Grosgrain attached to one side of patch with bar stitches parallel to the hem.
Result: Threads ripped lifting a 30 pound weight. No damage to tarp.
Test #3.1
Same as test 3 but sandwich the tarp and patch between the ½” gross grain loop.
Result: Things are getting interesting, lifted up 50 pounds of static weight. When I started to bounce the material on the weight it finally failed with some very aggressive bouncing. Loop tore off, hole in the rip stop, but amazingly the hem is still there.
Test # 4
4mm rolled hem with special presser foot. A layer of 1,1 sil-nylon patch, not hemmed. 1” grosgrain sandwiching the tarp. 3mm wide and long zigzag stitch to attach patch to tarp body. 2mm wide and long zigzag stitch to attach grosgrain to tarp. The stitches were perpendicular to the hem.
Result: I can lift 52.5 pounds (top range of barbell) of weight and can bounce the weight very aggressively and there is no failure. Since I did not hem the patch edges… they are fraying badly, I need to fix that on the next test. What I think I am observing it the transfer and dissipation of force to the tarp in gradual steps. It seems I stopped fighting things with brute force and rather just went with the stretch of the materials.
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