BlackCat Mark II

[headchange4u]

I have been thinking of putting grosgrain on the edges of my hammock. How was it to work with?

[Brian]

I have been thinking of putting grosgrain on the edges of my hammock. How was it to work with?

While BB should chime in on this as well, I can say that after working with a few miles of the stuff, it really isn't too bad. If you get 1" Grosgrain ribbon, it is fairly easy to fold it over in 6" sections and then sew a small portion, then repeat repeat repeat until you get to the end of the hammock. Sewing two lines of stitching prevents it from ripping itself out the hammock, which is probably what you are looking for. As long as you have a relatively straight line to sew on, or one that is folded over prior to the GGR application, you shouldn't have any problems.

Brian
OES

[headchange4u]

While BB should chime in on this as well, I can say that after working with a few miles of the stuff, it really isn't too bad. If you get 1" Grosgrain ribbon, it is fairly easy to fold it over in 6" sections and then sew a small portion, then repeat repeat repeat until you get to the end of the hammock. Sewing two lines of stitching prevents it from ripping itself out the hammock, which is probably what you are looking for. As long as you have a relatively straight line to sew on, or one that is folded over prior to the GGR application, you shouldn't have any problems.

Brian
OES

Do you roll the edges of the fabric before you sew on the gosgrain or do you just sew it directly to the edge?

[Brian]

I roll the edges over first; this gives you something of substance to push the GGR against when you sew it on. Also, it prevents the ribbon from being pulled off if/when the tarp whips in winds. Just make sure the rolled hem is less than the width of the GGR!

[blackbishop351]

I sewed a rolled hem in all the edges before I added the grosgrain. And I have to disagree with Brian - adding that trim was about the biggest PITA I can imagine

It took forever...much longer than the hems themselves. Because I wanted everything really nice and neat, I folded and pinned the whole length of each edge before sewing. That wasn't the big pain though. The screwy part was making sure that the edges of the trim were even from one side of the sil to the other. I kinda had to do that, because my first line of stitch went pretty close to the edge of the trim, and I didn't want to miss the trim on the other side

Anyway, I pinned about every 4-5", checking each pin to make sure the trim was even, then sewed the whole edge at once. I know many of you guys are a lot better at stitching than I am and can make stuff pretty without doing this, but I'm not there yet.

[blackbishop351]

OK so Fringer's BlackCat is finished, for all practical purposes. Just have to seal the ridge seam now. I posted a couple more pics - they didn't turn out as well as I'd like, but they give the general idea.

I haven't weighed his yet, but as long as there's not a huge weight penalty, I'll be adding the grosgrain to mine, too. Even though it was a HUGE PITA. It really gets a tighter pitch and it definitely looks more durable.

I ended up making his corners a lot nicer than mine, the hems a lot neater, and the ridge seam a lot straighter. Yeah. I guess I really just made him an all-around nicer tarp

I may be donating my first effort to the starving hammocker fund and just starting from scratch Depends on how long it takes to make the other stuff I need to get around to!

[Patrick]

blackbishop, the Mark II looks excellent. Very nice work. I really like how it looks almost dark brown when set up in the light. Don't feel bad about the pinning. I still pin virtually every seam I sew. The more I can protect me from me while at the machine, the better.

Brian, do you sew the seam first before adding the ribbon or just do it all in one step?

[Brian]

blackbishop, the Mark II looks excellent. Very nice work. I really like how it looks almost dark brown when set up in the light. Don't feel bad about the pinning. I still pin virtually every seam I sew. The more I can protect me from me while at the machine, the better.

Brian, do you sew the seam first before adding the ribbon or just do it all in one step?

Patrick, I may be efficient, but not that efficient. I fold over the fabric first, then add the ribbon to each side with a seperate trip, and then do a continuous trip around the perimeter again so there are two layers of stitching over the GGR.

Oh, by the way, folding over the ribbon at the corners so that raw ends are not exposed is also very importatn! GGR has a nasty habit of coming unsinged and unraveled unless the ends are both singed and hidden from wear...

Brian
OES

[blackbishop351]

Oh, by the way, folding over the ribbon at the corners so that raw ends are not exposed is also very importatn! GGR has a nasty habit of coming unsinged and unraveled unless the ends are both singed and hidden from wear...

I'm with you on that one. I heat sealed all the ends first, hid them all with some sort of seam, and double stitched the whole perimeter. I didn't do it all in one shot, but who's counting

[blackbishop351]

So I finally got Fringer's BlackCat seam sealed and weighed. Came out to 17.6 oz. - not bad for that much coverage! Comparing to my BlackCat, looks like the grosgrain added somewhere around 3.5-4 oz. - not a terrible tradeoff for the bombproof edges!

I posted a couple of new pics, too.

P.S. - It'll be in the mail by the middle of next week, Fringer! Sorry it took so long...