How to make your own outdoor hammock that is super lightweight and portable.
This is a three part video series.
Video 1: Sew the body of your hammock
This is an awesome beginner project, as it is straight stitch after straight stitch. If you can’t sew a straight line, this is the perfect practice opportunity. It will force you to learn how to manipulate your fabric and work with your sewing machine.
This tutorial will take you through sewing your own hammock and creating continuous loops to suspend your hammock with. You will however still need to purchase tree straps and a carabiner to hang your hammock for this design.
I am an affiliate with Amazon and Ripstop by the Roll. These links will 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:
- Fabric Scissors
- Lighter or Candle
- 2 -3 feet of 16 gauge Floral wire 1
- Sewing Machine
Materials:
For constructing the body:
If you plan to make the stuff sack too, please view that post too, so you can make sure to get all your materials at once.
- 12 yards – Strong & Lightweight Fabric 2
- 1 spool – Strong Thread 3
- 56″ – 7/64” AmSteel (58″)
- 30″ – 1/2” grosgrain ribbon
- Tree straps with carabiners 4
Download Blueprint Here:
This Blueprint is a helpful companion with drawings that give you details on fabric dimensions, and markings. There is no pattern for this since it is just a rectangle. The markings that need to be made are in the blueprint.
Watch the Hammock Tutorial:
Watch the Suspension Tutorial:
This tutorial is made with the straight splice method. There are so many different ways to hang your hammock and several different ways to make continuous loops.
There are also different sizes that people prefer depending on your hammock situation and preferences. You should always have at least a 4″ bury in the loops so that it does not come undone. With the straight splice method, the friction in the bury is primarily what holds the loops together.
One other method includes the locking brummel. In the locking brummel, the ends are folded back on each other and then buried in the rope. This creates a lock in the loop and that becomes the point where most of the force is taken that holds the loop together. With the fibers going back on themselves, this may cause the rope to lose strength (as all knots do)- however with AmSteel fibers, it is still more than enough to hold a person in a hammock.
Maybe we will do a load analysis one day to get actual numbers. 🙂
Notes:
- Floral wire or other craft wire works for this. You want a smooth wire that is not going to add more friction when you are trying to pull the fibers through the center. It also needs to be strong so that it does not just fold over when you attempt to hold it through, but still flexible enough that you can fold it tight and not have an unnecessarily large ‘eye’ when pulling through.16 – 20 gauge will work well, depending on the wire.
- There are several different fabrics available in the link that will be great choices. Personally I like the XL fabric that is a wider width. This just allows for more comfortable seating. I have linked the one I like the best, but there are many other choices that are all strong enough for a hammock.
- You want a thread that is made for outside use. I like Gutermann Mara, the quality is there, it does not come apart when it is wet and it comes in many different colors. Gutermann Mara 70 is adequate, and you can go to Gutermann Mara 50 which is a bit thicker if you just want extra reassurance. You’ll need enough for your bobbin and your machine.
- There are different ways to suspend your hammock, some more light weight and don’t require carabiners, for example, the whoopie sling. This method we are doing today is not the most light weight, but in the theme of keeping this beginner friendly, this hammock requires tree straps and a carabiner. Perhaps a future post will be on different suspension methods.
