Sewing characteristics of materals questions???

[koaloha05]

Sewing has been limited to normal clothing fabrics and silnylon.

Questions:
1. Noseeum & mosquito netting. Looking at headchange4U DIY instructions on nosseum skins it looks like no backing or real complex hem is required. With the more open mosquito net would a backing be required? What type of stitch count & hem is recommended for areas with high stress?

2. Someone somewhere here at hf noted that Spinntex is more difficult material than silnylon to work with. True or false? If true, what more difficulty will I run into?

3. Is sewing Momentum similar to sewing nylon ripstop?

[Brian]

1) While I don't have a ton of experience sewing netting, as long as you're not putting any structural load on it, when simple hems and maybe some type of double stitched hem should work fine. Try perhaps 7-8 stitches per inch - nothing too dense but still catching enough of the noseeum fibers to be effective?

2) Spinntex is much stiffer, which impacts the construction in a few ways. When cutting the fabric, it stays where you put it. Cutting on a table? You can crease the fabric over the edge of the table, and it ain't going any where. This stiffness then transfers to the machine as well. As long as you take your time and make sure you're feeding the fabric well, it's just as slippery and lovable as silnylon. I like to make sure that especially when doing ridgeline seams with the Spinn, keep the fabric well rolled over so that it feeds into the narrow part of the machine well.

3) Yep - just make sure it stays tight so theres little puckering, it's just a really light ripstop.

Good luck!

[Ramblinrev]

You can handle netting just like you would handle any other fabric. Stitch length is one of those intangibles that you develop a feel for. Since you have colthing experience... for netting think Chiffon. A simple rolled hem is sufficient. I have no experience at all with any of the other fabrics you mentioned so I'll let Brian's remarks stand. But the netting is simplicity itself to deal with.

[Cannibal]

I don't like netting and I'd like to keep this post civil, so I'm skipping that one.

IMO, what you heard about Spinn being more difficult to sew than sil is 'false'. I much prefer to work with Spinn. Unlike Brian, I actually find it much less slippery than sil. I spend most of my time working with sil trying to keep everything on the table and positioned on the machine correctly. I don't have nearly the issues with Spinn. I does hold a crease quite nicely and it's one of the few fabrics that I can actually cut in a straight line.

I was just having this conversation in my head a couple of nights ago as I was banging out Spinn stuff sacks for the clan...not the klan.

[canoebie]

My experience with netting is limited to skins, however a simple double stitched rolled hem worked great. No need for back up. I really like my netting skins, breathable, light weight, used HC4U's directions for my tarp. Now I am gonna make some for my hammock, thinking about leaving my bedding and summer UQ in it so I can just clip to the trees, strip the skins and be good to go.

[Brian]

Cannibal - I don't think that the fabric is more/less slippery, but the stiffness definately makes it easier to handle and work with. The fact that multiple layers don't squirm around underneath each other is a big, big plus. I guess I've been working with sil for so long that I'm just used to it and change is bad

[Cannibal]

Change is gooooooood!
I love my MacCat in Spinn, makes me feel all special and stuff.

[koaloha05]

Thanks for the info. Need to replace the sil tarp skins with a net skin. The cost per yd makes sewing a Spinn tarp is a bit intimidating. Think I'll just order a customized hex spinn tarp from Brian once I find the spare $$s.

Any one know of a source of calendered light weight (30D) ripstop with a decent DWR?