Doh! Just made a rookie mistake

**SnarkyJosh** · 01-22-2014, 01:45

So I've been preparing to make my first DIY tarp, following the diygearsupply.com winter tarp plans. I got some nice looking silnylon from ripstopbytheroll.com and bought an equal amount of Taslite nylon from Walmart, for practice. I tracked down a rolling foot, bought thread to match the tarp color, and some extra needles. I was ready to go.

So I started off by cutting the Taslite into two 162" sections. I only have a small space on my kitchen floor to tape things down and line everything up. So I roughly folded in half, then in half again. I lined everything up and smoothed it out. I measured the length twice

, and cut the end fold. I now had two 162" pieces that I attached with a flat felled seam and did the cat cuts. It looks better than I expected for my first attempt, I may have to do a DIY sil treatment and use this for car camping

.

So today, I decided to get started on the silnylon. I followed the exact same steps as before, but for some reason, I cut the wrong end

. And now I have one 162" piece and two 81" pieces

. I think it's because I laid the fabric in a different direction, I was cooking dinner at the same time and didn't want splatters from the stove.

Lesson learned... measure twice, cut once, and cut the correct side. Also, if you do a practice run, and it succeeds, make sure to follow the same steps again exactly on the second go, including fabric placement.

Looks like I'll be placing another order. On the bright side, It seems I have just the right length material to make a couple sets of snake skins and a few stuff sacks.

**Jtupnsmoke** · 01-22-2014, 03:05

Don't ya hate it when that happens? I had just got an order of shock cord in and was cutting 4 foot sections for my tarp. Accidentally folded them one too many times and ended up with 20 or so 1 foot sections.

**Boston** · 01-22-2014, 08:00

Live and learn. Use the "scrap" to make snake skins, bishop bags, etc.. for yourself, and maybe to use in the PIF forum. It's still useful.

**boulderv7** · 01-22-2014, 08:17

Man, I feel you. I got all the way through making a winter tarp and was sewing on the last panel pull.....I set the tarp up an noticed I sewed it on perpendicular instead of horizontal. So now I have a tarp with one derpy panel pull on it. It still works, but it bothers me to no end. At least it was made out of 1.9 pu coated instead of the nice 1.1 oz silnylon. I call it my practice tarp.

**meckelangelo** · 01-22-2014, 08:24

Oh, ouch... I have very limited space to work with for cutting, as well. A couple months ago, I decided to pre-cut all of the straps I was going to use for tree straps. I had a 300-foot roll. I wanted to cut them into 7-foot pieces so that the final length of the tree strap is 6-feet. Like a dummy, I cut EVERY LAST STRAP to 6 feet. You may have noticed that I sold a ton of 6-foot straps on here not too long ago. Now you know why.

I have also cut a couple hammock blanks to the wrong length, too. I'm 6'3", and need a 10.5 foot hammock at minimum. I should have started with 11 feet for the blank, but I now have a 10-foot orange hammock... :/

**FireInMyBones** · 01-22-2014, 08:38

Been there, done that. Bummer. At least you're looking on the bright side.

**XTrekker** · 01-22-2014, 10:29

I hear ya,

I stitched all of the baffles for my first underquilt off by 1 row. Got to the end before I realized what I had done. I had to just cut the baffles off because seem ripping would create holes for down to escape. Couldnt reuse them because they would be a 1/2" too short. Had to make new baffle walls. I was very upset with myself.

**tansey** · 01-22-2014, 10:53

why not sew it back together and use it?

**XTrekker** · 01-22-2014, 10:59

Originally Posted by tansey

why not sew it back together and use it?

I did. I just had to make new baffle walls.

**SnarkyJosh** · 01-22-2014, 11:47

Yeah, I was a bit annoyed last night, but now I just see new projects possibilities. I was thinking about putting them back together and just using it, but I ran across a post where Rev said that side may not get as taut. Also, I know the asymmetry would have annoyed me.

My new order has been placed and now the wait begins. I think I'm going to finish out my practice tarp, I may try it out this weekend. It's in the teens so I don't need it to be waterproof yet.

I just picked up some reflective guy line, I better go lay that out straight, in the snowy yard, just to be on the safe side.