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Newbie: Flat Felled Seam on Tarp Ridgeline question. Also, where to get good zippers.

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PostedNov 15, 2015 at 11:40 pm

Hello, I am going to try making my own tarp (with zippered doors). I have a question about the ridgeline. If you make a flat felled seam, does that mean the side you sew the seam down to becomes shorter than the other side? Is this something you normally add allowance for? I would like to put doors on my tarp and since the doors would have to zip together, I would like the tarp sides to be of the same dimensions so the doors would fit nicely together. Also, whats a good source of zippers and what kind of zippers should I look for? I think reliability would be important to me, followed by the weight of the zipper. Thanks sorry if this has been asked somewhere before.

Jerry Adams BPL Member
PostedNov 16, 2015 at 7:35 am

What kind of tarp? Pyramid? Long with A shape cross section? You don't have to worry about one side of flat felled being shorter than the other side, but I have no idea what you mean : ) #5 YKK is probably good. I've tried #3 in a pyramid, where there's tension across the zipper, and it worked for a while but eventually failed, so it seems like #5 is better. If there's no tension across it and you want to minimize weight, #3 is good. thru-hiker.com, owfinc.com, questoutfitters.com,… Since the zipper isn't separating – one end of zipper is always connected – zipper by the roll and separate zipper pull – get a double pull that you can work from either side.

IVO K BPL Member
PostedNov 17, 2015 at 8:17 am

"Is this something you normally add allowance for?" Yes, and this means you add more seam allowance to the side that you felt would get shorter. However, this is important for close-fit things like garments and tight-tolerance shelters, while it may be unimportant for an open tarp, where the user should not really care that, say, the one half is 1/4" longer than the other one.

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