Stitching new tent

[manzana]

I am busy sewing my new tent. It is fun but I wish I knew what I was doing. It is a big tent (20 foot diameter) and I am using light weight ripstop (1.9 oz). Should I use a big zig-zag stitch, a straight stitch, or some other kind of stitch? Should I stitch the seams twice maybe?? I just bought a $120 WalMart sewing machine. I can see where a big commercial machine would be an asset. Many thanks for any advice!

cheers, manzana

ps. The dome is made from 5 hexagons sitting on 5 pentagons (frequency 3). That makes the cover fairly easy to cut since you only need to make the hexagons and then the pentagons and then sew them together. err, I hope..

http://www.desertdomes.com/domecalc.html

[DebW]

I'd go with straight stitches, and double every seam.

[manzana]

Originally Posted by DebW

I'd go with straight stitches, and double every seam.

Thanks. I guess that means making 2 complete passes. Argghhh. At the corners where there will be a lot of stress, I am sewing duct tape patches on. It looks pretty strong.

OK, gotta go sew...

manzana (Austin)

[Fallingwater]

Originally Posted by manzana

Thanks. I guess that means making 2 complete passes. Argghhh. At the corners where there will be a lot of stress, I am sewing duct tape patches on. It looks pretty strong.

I'd agree with the straight stitch. The number of lines of stitches will depend upon your type of seam.

Spend another $15 and get a book on sewing outdoor projects and at the different seam types. Or you can spend sometime searching the web. There are numerous illustrations available with a little looking around.

Stay away from ducktape patches for reenforcement. If you need a stress patch, you can use the same material as your canopy. Simply cut square aprox. 3" by 3" and fold it into a triangle. Sew along the folded edge with the two raw edges aligned with the edge of the pattern piece.

When you sew the pattern pieces together, the extra edges will be buried into the seam.

Not sure if that made much sense. However there are other sources of instruction on the net.

Good luck,
Ron

[DeoreDX]

Originally Posted by manzana

I am busy sewing my new tent. It is fun but I wish I knew what I was doing. It is a big tent (20 foot diameter) and I am using light weight ripstop (1.9 oz). Should I use a big zig-zag stitch, a straight stitch, or some other kind of stitch? Should I stitch the seams twice maybe?? I just bought a $120 WalMart sewing machine. I can see where a big commercial machine would be an asset. Many thanks for any advice!

Two passes... and use a Flat Felled or a Faux Flat Felled seam. I'm sure if you do a search on google.com you will find several web pages detailing how to make that seam. I usually use Grosgrain ribbon for re-enforcing stress points, or extra scraps of material.

[Youngblood]

Originally Posted by Fallingwater

Spend another $15 and get a book on sewing outdoor projects and at the different seam types.

Any recommendations?

Youngblood

[manzana]

Originally Posted by Youngblood

Any recommendations?

Youngblood

Wow, thanks everybody for the great info. This forum never fails to amaze me. FWIW, I have to do over 300 feet of stitching for this tent. That is why I''m not too keen on 2 passes. It is obvious the big zig zag I was using was a terrible stitch. The next time you watch a Super_bowl think of poor manzana sewing the length of the football field.

regards, manzana in Austin

[DeoreDX]

Originally Posted by manzana

FWIW, I have to do over 300 feet of stitching for this tent. That is why I''m not too keen on 2 passes. It is obvious the big zig zag I was using was a terrible stitch.

Check out Penny's web page. She has a tips page for DIY'ers. Lists good material suppliers, books, tips, etc.

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/tips/tips.asp

Here is a good illustration of a flat felled seam.

http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/...latfelled.html

Backpacking.net has a wonderful diy section of the forums but it requires you to register to view it.

[manzana]

Originally Posted by DeoreDX

Check out Penny's web page. She has a tips page for DIY'ers. Lists good material suppliers, books, tips, etc.

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/tips/tips.asp

Here is a good illustration of a flat felled seam.

http://www.backpacking.net/makegear/...latfelled.html

Backpacking.net has a wonderful diy section of the forums but it requires you to register to view it.

Wow. Goldmine. I am now inspired to get one of those little seam cutters and redo parts of the tent which I messed up. The flat felled seam looks hurricane proof. As a note, though, my "tent" is really just a covering over a rigid dome. The cover is not stress-bearing. The only stresses would be from flapping in the wind. It is just a big bag I slip over the hemisphere of steel poles. I am hoping I do not need a flat-felled seam since it will make my measurements all wrong. As usual, I start understanding the project when I have already done half of it.

manzana

[manzana]

I proceeded to double stitch my tent by running a seam parallel to the first seam. Then I wondered if this really made any difference. It "seams" like the first stitch would not really take pressure of the second one. I.e., under stress the first seam would let go and then the second one would take all of the the pressure. So then I decided to make the second stitch by criss-crossing the first stitch, first on the left and then on the right of it. So, the question is.. "What is the correct way to double stitch???". Many thanks. My tent is much stronger thanks to this forum anyway. My original zig-zag was a terrible stitch.

cheers,

manzana in Austin

heading for AT next week! Oh boy!

[Rambler]

By coincidence thru-hiker.com message board has a thread strated re sewing machines. Also check out the "Workshop" section at that website Stitches

[cryptobrian]

I just recently completed a "rayway" tarp. Here the bulk of the stress is carried across the ridge seam. The recommended seam here was a flat fell seam and I will say that it creates a plenty strong seam. You essentially end up with four layers of fabric and two lines of stitching to bear the stress. You shouldn't need to doublestitch if you use a flat feel seam.

[KyKevin]

The books say to use a lockstich, but a double stich should sufice. You just don't want one little ravel to turn into a whole seam falling out. Use the heat activated seam tape and I promise you will have no worries

[Weldman]

Check out this website for Sewing ripstop :

http://www.geocities.com/gengvall/sew/sew.html