help: trying to make a smaller gathered end on hammock; with image

[LogicallyCompromised]

hello,
i imagine someone has already shared a solution to the title of the thread. if possible, could someone either link me a thread or briefly tell me if they see any serious issues with the idea i propose below?

my concerns are largely from an aesthetics stand point and i am okay with doing a traditional gathered end with rectangle shape should i become convinced that the hammock looses to much integrity with the solution i share below.

in my mind, is see the material outside of the width of our bodies bearing little weight; thus giving green light to reduce the material around the corners to make a smaller gathered end. i have been incorrect many times hence feeling this idea out with more experienced people. in the image below i have used the green parallel annotations to suggest the body width where the hammock material would have all its grid patterns persevered to limit the chances of tears.

i understand the propensity for a rip to occur increases greatly along a compromised ripstop nylon grid. i believe this is the large reason why we hem(sp?) the sides; in an effort to limit and contain the fraying. the pink annotation suggest areas where i think a tear would likely occur and would like to have these areas several inches outside where most weight will be bared(sp?) by the material.

i believe with a hem around the non-rectangle contoured sides the material should not lose much strength and what it might lose should not mater much as the material bearing the occupants weight is in good squared away form.

any feedback is welcome. thank you for your time.

[gmcttr]

This will have the effect of making the edges longer than the center which has been experimented with several times over the years.

Everything outside of the green rectangle will fall away and be unusable. You will effectively have a hammock the size of the green rectangle.

[LogicallyCompromised]

and that is why i asked; major oversight on my part.
thank you for the quick turnaround and have a good day!

[gmcttr]

Keep on thinking and posting about different ways to do things...that's the only way we advance.

[Redoleary]

You could add some channels and on the edges and run some zing-it thru them to support the area outside the green rectangle. See THIS THREAD where I've done something similar to what you proposed and found the structural side channels to be a comfortable solution. I slept in that hammock last night as a matter of fact.

[LogicallyCompromised]

thank you for the additional feedback and inspiration you two. just thought of another possible solution.

the added seams become a problem most would avoid but this may satisfy the idea of a smaller gathered end and also keep the side tight as the top edge will be gathered. this solution was inspired by redoleary's setup they linked.

in the updated idea the pink annotations would be sewn together to form a seam. i could double stitch and add some flat stitches at the end, perpendicular to the seam to help limit the idea of it tearing.


also the pieces removed to make the gathered end less bulky would be outside the load of the hammock.

what say you?

[gmcttr]

...what say you?

Stitch one up and let us know the results.

[Redoleary]

I like where you're going with this. Wont know til you try. Looking fwd to seeing what you come up with.

[hutzelbein]

I have also experimented a bit with different cuts. If you do what you suggest in your last drawing, what you will get is a hammock with a useable width between the green lines, and a tight edge up to the lowest point on the pink triangle. The outside will again be mostly unuseable because it will fall away. It also makes no sense to cut into the hammock more than 1 or 2 inches at most. Otherwise it will feel like a bathtub with very steep walls. I hope I explained this understandably.

[e_2]

Also, read up on the Parallelogram Hammock design work.