If you already have a pack you like to use for climbing but it did not come with a tarp, here is a very inexpensive, simple and useful project.
This is an excellent beginner project– it is straight stitches, giving you practice on straight lines.


I am an affiliate with Amazon and Ripstop by the Roll. Some of these links may take you to my affiliate link, meaning I will earn a small commission if you purchase from these links, but it will not add any cost to you.
Tools:
- Sewing Machine – threaded
- Fabric Scissors OR Rotary Cutter
- Lit Candle
- Tailor’s Chalk or Fabric Pencil
Materials:
- 1.25 yards of 60″ length ripstop fabric with good waterproofing
- 20″ of 3/4″ thick grosgrain ribbon OR four – 5″ sections of 3/4″ grosgrain in different colors. You can buy this online, but usually not in small quantities. For smaller quantities, try a local fabric store.
- Strong thread
Design:
At the time of writing this (Aug 2023) 2 yards of the linked fabric costs a total of $12, and you can get 2 feet of grosgrain for less than $1. You may not be able to order quantities smaller than 1 yard increments. If you already have the sewing machine and other tools, this is a very inexpensive project.
The fabric choice is one of the most important aspects of the design as the tarp is mostly a big piece of fabric.
The Tarp Must Be: | Because: |
Water Repellant | It is the barrier between your rope and the ground. If the ground is soggy you want to protect your rope from moisture as this can decrease the life and safety of your rope. |
Flexible | It needs to fit around your rope which changes shape depending on how it is laid out. It also needs to fit in your backpack |
Strong | The ground may have rocks and sharp sticks on it. The tarp needs to not get pierced if there is pressure or weight on it. Also when you are picking up your tarp, it will need to hold the weight of a rope without busting. |
Lightweight | Keeping the load on your back as light as possible will allow for a more enjoyable easier journey between climbs, so that you can focus more energy on the climbs instead of the trek between them. |
There is ribbon at the corners so you can tie your rope on to it. When you flake your rope before a climb, you want one end tied to the tarp so you know where the end is, and also to keep it detangled.
You may want to loosely tie another end to it while you are going between climbs to always know where that is too. You can use different colors of grosgrain so you can know which one is your end and which one is the start of your rope. If your rope has the ends marked differently, you may not care if the ribbons on the tarp to be different colors.
Skills Required:
If you can sew a straight line, you can definitely do this project. If you cannot sew a straight line, you can practice a bit on some scrap fabric or an old garment, or you can consider this project a practice opportunity.
It is a simple project as it basically only consists of cutting fabric, positioning your pieces in place, clipping them, and sewing straight lines.
A double fold hem is all it takes- and with a double fold hem you are just folding the raw edge over once, and then again to hide it, and sewing a stitch on the outer most part of it.
Instructions:
Prep your materials:
1. Cut your fabric and lay it out. If you ordered two yards of fabric and like the size of that for a tarp, go ahead and use that entire piece- there is no need for cutting. If you prefer a slightly smaller tarp like I do, then you can cut your fabric to 1.25 yards, or 45″ and keep the 60″ length.
2. Cut your grosgrain with 45 degree angles using the following dimensions:

The blue lines in the photo are the cut lines. All the pieces are 5″ on the longer edge, and all the angles are 45 degrees.
If you are using different colors of grosgrain pieces, you will just cut them to a 5″ rectangle, and then cut off the ends at a 45 degree angle to make the trapezoid shape.

3. Heat Seal your grosgrain:
In a very well ventilated area- go outside if you can – light a candle and hold the cut edges up to the flame without touching the flame. Watch the frayed edges melt upon themselves.
4. Lay your fabric down so that the more slippery side is on bottom. This is the more water repellant side which we want facing the ground. The upper side will feel slightly tackier and will have a little bit duller light reflecting off of it.
Mark 4.5″ from each corner with chalk. Mark it on both sides of the fabric.

5. Now we will be doing a double fold hem. Fold 1/2″ of the edge of the fabric towards the center. You can use your finger to hold it and press it to get a visible crease line on the fabric.

6. Place one of your grosgrain sections as shown in the photo. The edge of the grosgrain is touching the edge of the raw fabric- note that it is not tucked underneath it. It is aligned at the 4.5″ mark.

7. Fold the fabric another 1/2″ in (this is the double fold for the double fold hem) and clip the grosgrain in place as well as part of the hem closer to the edge of the fabric.

8. Repeat this process with the perpendicular edge as shown below.


9. You will repeat this process with all 4 corners of the tarp, and between the corners, continue on the 1/2″ double fold hem. Once you have everything in place, with a straight stitch, sew your hems near the edges.

10. All done! Your tarp will be finished such that there is room underneath the corner ribbon. This is so it makes it easy for you to tie your rope through without you having to separate the ribbon and the tarp.


