Best way to hem a poly tarp?

[D S]

I thought I would play around with a poly tarp, since I can get them really cheap from HF with a coupon. But I don't like the grommets since they are never installed evenly, never in the right place, and there's never enough of them.

I was planning to cut away the outer hem, along with the grommets and start over adding web tie-outs. I thought about doing the trimming with a mod'd soldering iron to melt the edges as I cut.

All that said, what the best way to rehem this thing? Fold and glue, sew, etc????

[Wade Ford]

I assume you're referring to the blue, green, silver, etc woven poly tarps sold at home improvement stores. I have made a couple of hammock tarps from these. I just cut it to shape with scissors and did simple rolled hem around the perimeter on a sewing machine. I sewed in a patch from cutoff tarp material where I needed reinforcement for tie outs.

This stuff is super easy to sew compared to silnylon. I used a size 14 needle at 6 or 7 stitches per inch and some Mara 70 thread from DIYGearSupply.

[D S]

Do you see the need for a reinforcing cord in the hem?

[Wade Ford]

No I've never done one that way. For the most part I did mine the same way as in this thread https://www.hammockforums.net/forum/showthread.php?t=29919

I think he uses glue stick for the hems but I didn't find it necessary.

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