Another Tarp

[perfectlydark]

Have some time off work so got started ona second DIY tarp after my first attempt proved a tad too small for my purposes. I had some trouble finding some light silnylon both locally and internationally, wondering if theres some sort of shortage? Anyway i wound up taking a gamble on some 2nds from diygearsupply. Its ok and nothing really wrong with it, however has more of a crinkly plasticky feel than silnylon i ordered off Simon at tiergear a little while ago. Anyway beggers cant be choosers.
On the build, i cut my pieces 4m long and 2.6m on the short edges (which of course reduce after hemming). Didnt really do anything fancy on the cat curves, in fact i just folded my pieces in half and cut half crescents to get my curves. Did it by hand and was much easier than fiddling with string trying to get a perfect curve. My stitching was terrible and broke several needles. Tieouts i want to hand sew again as the machine struggled and i only got a basic attachmeny on each which should be ok, but only just ok. Id feel more confident with a better stitch. Seam sealed yesterday.
Overall the build quality im a little dissapointed in thanks to the sewing issues but the shape and size are perfect to my needs. The material seems less crinkly when having setup and rolled up a few times.
Ill add pictures soon the file size is too big on phone

[perfectlydark]

Ok heres the few photos i took

[simonm]

Looks good. What were the sewing issues?

I finally have sil back in stock, I had been waiting for a new fabric to be released.

[perfectlydark]

Combo of my crappy 2nd hand cheap machine, my bad skills and a bit of frustration and bad luck. Watching me sew is like watcing homer simpson do somethig..lots of swearing and yelling lol!
Sorry simon i got impatient on the fabric. That said im tempted to make a 1person tent at some point so..

[simonm]

Combo of my crappy 2nd hand cheap machine, my bad skills and a bit of frustration and bad luck. Watching me sew is like watcing homer simpson do somethig..lots of swearing and yelling lol!
Sorry simon i got impatient on the fabric. That said im tempted to make a 1person tent at some point so..

Yeah don't worry the swearing subsides over time, or at least is directed at other things.

[perfectlydark]

Haha hopeso i lost count of the number of times i had to rethread the machine due to snapped thread, to just tangling up, or that i didnt thread it properly after 50 times and it jammed again etc lol.
Anyway im going to look into hand sewing the tieouts on stronger. Machine just couldnt penetrate 2 layers of grosgain and a few layers.of the sil

[Moondog55]

I had the same trouble here until I fitted the walking foot to my machine, but even my crappy little machine will happily sew 6 layers of denim or 4 layers of cotton / poly canvas so I'd look to having your machine serviced and replace the needles with a more appropriate size and shape

[perfectlydark]

It was a cheap machine as is and bought second hand. Better off with a better model i reckon. No projects.in the immediate.future a least although still need to make that hammock net and underquilt. And tent im considering..

[andrewa]

At least you don't have to deal with a cat skidding around on your fabric ( well, skidding is OK - it's when she abruptly stops that I have the problem!).

Well done. Any project is a good project.

A

[perfectlydark]

Haha thats true. Does a 3yo toddler count though
Cheers. Yes agreed anything finished is good. Im only using it myself so not too fussed with minor cosmetics anyway