Straycat tarp $25

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Last weekend I got a wild hair and realized I had a tarp I wasn't using. It was a Coleman pop up shelter wall that I bought for around $15 at walmart I think when I first started hanging. It served its purpose at the time and was replaced by a Campmor 10x12.

So here's how I did it:

Starting fabric was 6x12 I took 2ft off the end making it 10ft long. I then took a tape measure and marked a line at 24" on the long sides of the tarp. Connecting that with the center point on the short side center point gave me a basic hex shape.

To create my cat cuts I measured to the center on every edge. Once I had my center points, I marked a spot 8" in on the long sides and 4" in on the short sides. Using my highly tuned eyeballs, I created the curve with a pen then once I was satisfied with the caternary shape I made, I traced over my pen with a sharpie. I cut and sewed every edge with reinforcements where the tie outs would be. By the way, the reinforcements are from the extra fabric I had.

The tie outs were made from black with white polka dot grosgrain my wife bought at a fabric store. Of course the polka dots went on the inside. I cut each of the 6 tie outs to 10" to allow for plenty of contact with the tarp and reinforcements.

It took me a total of about 8 hours to complete this tarp from start to finish. The next one I make will be a little different on the measurements. Instead of an 8ft long side, I will make it 8.5 ft. It'll give me a little more toe and head room under the tarp.

I call this creation the "Straycat" because its ugly, was previously unwanted, and lost weight from when I abandoned it. Next time I tackle this I will force myself to take pics along the way so you great guys and gals out there can have yet another tutorial. This was a fairly simple project including the sewing. I think anyone should be able to tackle this project with little effort and a days time.

I have yet to try this thing out in the rain, but I'm pretty certain I will stay dry using this tarp. It was a great trial run before I go buying impetus, cuben, or sil. It was a cheap tarp that including materials, whether previously owned or not is less than $25.