yet another question about sewing into the hammock body.....

[stevebo]

Hey guys, I've come across several threads on this forum about sewing pockets/insulation into the hammock body. Unfortunatly, I didnt book mark the pages, and havnt been able to find the subject on the search function. Can anyone point me in the right direction? As memory serves me correct, several people have successfully tried this---I wanted to know how they did it--type of stitch etc. Thanks!

[DemostiX]

Clark has been sewing pockets into the hammock bottoms, running stitches across highly stressed areas, presumably without costs of returns. The hammock bottom is on the heavy side, I think, and not ripstop. The sewing is always with a double needle and heavy thread, about 6 per inch.

[Lost_Biker]

Is this one of them? http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ght=insulation

[Ramblinrev]

Don't use a zig zag. You are going to want to use straight stitches so the stress remains in line with the warp/woof. It's when you add stress on the bias (diagonal) to the fabric that you may end up doing damage to the fabric bed. That's the problem with a zig zag... it exerts stress to the bias. Do not use a home machine double needle as they are intended for decorative top stitching only. They only use one bobbin thread. If you want double stitch lines make two passes.

I personally would not recommend a heavy duty thread. Here's the reasoning... If you are not disrupting the bed of the hammock then you are going to want the stitches to be the weakest link in the system. That way, if the stresses cause a failure it is the thread that breaks and not the fabric that rips. But that's just my 2 cents.

[lonetracker]

here is the link to the thread i wrote about my pocketed hammock.
http://www.hammockforums.net/forum/s...ad.php?t=48581

i used the large zig zag stitch.have 13 nights in it. seems to be holding up good.the pocket material i used was a very stretchy 1.1oz.the hammock body was 1.5 oz.

[DemostiX]

<snip>
I personally would not recommend a heavy duty thread. Here's the reasoning... If you are not disrupting the bed of the hammock then you are going to want the stitches to be the weakest link in the system. That way, if the stresses cause a failure it is the thread that breaks and not the fabric that rips. But that's just my 2 cents.

I wonder if Clark uses heavy thread because they insist on UV treatment for the thread. I took care to compare the thread Clark uses in the various parts of the hammock. It seems always to be the same, including finish to pockets and the creation of end-channels (which also only get a double row of stitches. Maybe, it is a matter of production costs, where it is less expensive to use the same machine and not change thread and bobbins than it would be to use a thread no heavier than needed. Clark is a small production shop, on one visitor's report, maybe without more than two tailors sewing.

Maybe Clark's practice is not advisable elsewhere because the hammock body fabric is heavier.

I'm not taking Clark to be better than anyone else, just an example of what an experienced outdoor fabric product maker currently uses. To my untrained eye it is a heavier thread and longer stitch than Warbonnet uses to sew its bugnetting.

[Ramblinrev]

I'm not taking Clark to be better than anyone else, just an example of what an experienced outdoor fabric product maker currently uses. To my untrained eye it is a heavier thread and longer stitch than Warbonnet uses to sew its bugnetting.

I have not studied a Clark so I can not comment on what they do. However, theirs is a tried and field tested process which has served their users well. To me that is a radically different situation than the OP presented in wanting to experiment in his home shop. Don't get me wrong... I'm not dissing experimenting in a home shop, but if it were me.... I'd build in some fail safe measures until I had a chance to see what was going to happen. But by all means... build your own hammock.

[DemostiX]

And for the future, I'll be clear to RR, that I would myself first experiment with thread no heavier than necessary to do the job. No "UV" protected polyester thread available? No problem, user-complaints all get handled in house without warranty claims and shipping costs.

Whatever is good practice, which is what RR is a reliable source for.

But, I commented on what Clark does because I have sense a fear of violating the hammock here; and if I were an mfg, small or large, I would discourage it. There are any number of folks who used to drill holes into bicycle frame tubes to install then-new-thing water bottle cages. Those holes, however carefully drilled were all candidates for stress-risers and subsequent tube fractures. Not theoretical. Real ones.

[ferball]

Theoretically you should be able to sew in the bed of the hammock with no problems. As long as the thread has as much elasticity as the fabric, and it is weaker. A stronger thread on an item such as a hammock could actually cut into the fabric instead of breaking under a load. Since sewing in a weave such as nylon the needle is actually slipping between the threads of the fabric, and not cutting the fabric threads the sewing it self will not compromise the strength of the fabric, it is how the thread interacts that may cause a problem. Hence the zig zag no-no, because the fabric will stretch more on a bias and if the thread does not give, it will begin to cut the fabric.

[DemostiX]

I needed thread for whipping, IIRC, and none of the batch of available heavy threads at Walmart was reliably labeled as all-polyeter.

So, I bought a spool of nylon thread.

Now, I know that nylon thread stretches, and present a problem for sewing machines and sewers not set up to use it. But, I was hand stitching.

Now to the question: Is it possible the very heavy thread I see Clark uses is nylon, so that it stretches as much as the nylon fabric the hammock is made of?