Relieving Tight Edge?

**Bushwhacker** · 08-02-2014, 12:10

Is there a special way to sew the hem of a hammock so that you don't get a painfully tight hem? I'm working on a hammock seat, and my prototype had a hem that dug in to my legs. Is the only solution adjusting the whipping so that you have a loose side?

**silentorpheus** · 08-02-2014, 12:15

Most likely.

You could try cutting the edge with a slight curve, giving the hammock body a rounded shape. If that results in it being a little too baggy, you could sew a small channel along that side, and put some shock cord in it - that would keep it from being baggy when in resting, unloaded state, but allow it to stretch when loaded.

**MAD777** · 08-02-2014, 14:58

Cut the end of the hammock with a slight curve such that the centerline length of the hammock is a couple of inches shorter than the edges. Don't over do it though!

**Bushwhacker** · 08-02-2014, 15:03

I've tried that in the past, but gave up when double hemming it, my sewing machine didn't like the curve. Is that issue avoidable?

**MAD777** · 08-02-2014, 15:16

The secret to seeing in a curve is to sew a bunch of tiny straight lines of lying 3/4" long. As you fold each tiny segment, make sure that the fold is parallel to the edge (whose angle keeps changing as you proceed).

You could try breaking the hem into only 5 segments and draw straight lines from one point on a curve to the next. For a 60" wide hammock, each of the 5 segments would be 12" long.

**Floridahanger** · 08-02-2014, 16:02

The hem cannot be tightened or loosened by a simple rolled hem in the sewing process, unless you modify the sewing quite a bit. The lack of stretch in the hem comes from the layered fabric in the hem where the non-hemmed fabric is 1 or 2 layers and the hem doubled or tripled. This middle stretching and edges not stretching is what's causing your problem.

The gathering of the ends will produce a less/more tightening in the finished product. For a hammock chair, you want to have the ends be close in distance as the middle. This can be attcheived by gathering the ends a little different. While gathering the ends, make the middle a little longer than the edges or cut the ends in a reverse cat-cut as mentioned.

In a hammock, longer and wider, the best results in converting to a chair is to fold the hammock(right/left edges meet) and sit with the edges behind you and the middle (lowest part of unfolded hammock)in front.

Maybe some of this works for you. Good luck.