DIY 12x10 tarp questions

**hk2001** · 11-06-2014, 00:05

To anyone that's done one, or those that own a production made tarp like this, I just wanted to ask a few questions, and think out loud for a second before I start cutting.

A tarp like this is simply 2x 4 yard sections of material sewn together on a RL, correct? Side tie outs every few feet, and that's about it?

Any tips, pointers, patterns or pictures anyone can provide would be greatly appreciated.

**nuttysquirrel** · 11-06-2014, 00:19

Pretty much, i made mine out of 8 yds. And just folded in half and cut along the crease. I put stronger 200 d oxford reinforcement patches on the corners, and just 1/2" grossgrain on all the sides. (about 2 ft apart)

**Porch Hanger** · 11-06-2014, 00:47

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Made this tarp from 8 yards of silnylon. 3 + yards a side for 11 foot finished length. Fabric was 64" wide.
Used 3/4 webbing on the ridge line and 1/2 grosgrain loops with 1/8 shock cord on the tie-outs.
3" cat cuts all around. I used leftover material to reinforce all tie-out points.
Flat felled / French hybrid ... whatever on the ridge and a rolled hem on the perimeter.

When sewing ...sorry ...injecting a flat felled seam you will lose a half inch or so on one side meaning your sides will not be exactly equal.
No big deal unless it just really, really bothers you sense of symmetry.
Perhaps someone knows a workaround ... never bothered me.

My second DIY tarp and it turned out great. weighs in at 14.5 oz with guylines attached.

**OutandBack** · 11-06-2014, 01:07

All my hammocks are 11x60's and I love my 12x10 syl tarp. It's my go to tarp and I use it year round.
I bought it used here its made by TreetoTree Trail Gear and I had 2QZQ put 1 set of doors on it.

**Tacblades** · 11-06-2014, 01:32

This is a very short video on how i made mine

MYOG 3x3m Tarp:
http://youtu.be/yaPmn7_xwnY

**Hammonkey** · 11-06-2014, 02:43

Yes a simple flat felled seam down the ridge line to start it off

Then you've got to decide what you want to do for tie-outs. I would recommend either putting 1 tie-out in the middle, or 2 tie-outs between the corners. This enables you to fold the corners in like doors for nasty weather.

Once you've decided on your design you can get a little fancy and add some cat cuts or just leave it rectangular.

Next reinforce those corners and tie-outs with some oxford nylon triangles be sure to leave some space around the edges when you sew your reinforcements so that you can roll the hem around the perimeter directly over the triangles without having to roll the thicker oxford nylon in the hem creating a nice clean overlap. Sew this rolled hem once you got all your reinforcements sewn in place.

Sew on your tie-outs and you're almost done. There are several methods for doing so, bar tacks are probably the easiest to do, however some say that sewing a few boxes with X's through trough them is better. Also Lineloc3's are a pretty cool way to go instead of d-rings.

Now that you're pretty much done, all that's left to do is seal the seams. Some people swear by silnet, but I feel its too thick goopy and sloppy to apply with a crude brush. A better alternative i've found is:

**hk2001** · 11-06-2014, 06:51

Thanks for the answers all. I have made a few hex tarps in the past, so I'm familiar with most things involved (RL seam, seam sealing etc). But for this tarp, I'm looking for as big, and as easy as possible. No cat cuts, just a big ole rectangle.. I just want to make sure I'm not over simplifying it in my head.

**SirMarkos** · 11-06-2014, 07:56

I've made several tarps. On a couple of them, I did the french seam/flat felled seam hybrid. The last one I did was a silArgon tarp. and because the material is nylon, stretchy, and extremely lightweight, I decided to mimic the WB SF ridgeline design. My girl owns the SF and I loved how taught the RL would get. So I use a double french seam and sewed grosgrain along the top to give it that raised RL. Worked out perfect.

As far as the tie outs go, don't measure them out. Once you get your ridgeline finished. Just fold the finished product in half to get your center tie-outs. Then in quarters to get the tie-outs between the corners and center.

Hope this helps!