This tutorial is designed for someone who has minimal to no experience with sewing and will be extremely detailed and easy to understand. If you have any questions about the tutorial please feel free to contact me and I will happily clarify for you (and use your feedback to make the tutorial even more user friendly). I highly suggest that you read through the entirety of this page before moving on to any of the further tutorials so that you are familiar with my terminology.
To start with, a list of items that you will need to sew basic hammocks:
- Fabric (duh)
- Sewing machine (unless you desperately want to go insane and do it by hand)
- Thread (I prefer to use thread that matches my fleece color, as I generally sew with cotton + fleece)
- Scissors to cut your fabric (I personally have a pair of fabric shears and a rolling cutter, but fancy scissors aren't necessary)
- Scissors to cut thread (I use small embroidery scissors as they cut the thread more cleanly and it is easier to thread your needle, but once again these aren't a necessity and you can use your fabric scissors if need be)
- Needle (to hand sew openings closed, I prefer a very skinny needle for this)
- Pins (to hold fabric together)
- Chopstick (or other thin object, such as a pencil to push corners out neatly)
- Ribbons or grommets (to hang the hammock once it is completed, I will cover how to use both of these items)
If you use grommets, you will also need a grommet hammer and anvil (when you purchase the grommets they will have packs that come with the hammer and anvil inside as well as refill packs which are cheaper and contain more grommets, just make sure you snag a pack with the hammer and anvil the first time!) and a regular 'ol hammer to knock the grommets in place!
Now, on to some sewing terminology that you will see me using in my tutorials!
Right side of the fabric: This does not mean the right side as in right and left.. it means right as in right and wrong. With printed fabrics this will be fairly easy to tell. The side that looks pretty and like you want to look at it is the "right side" of the fabric. With fleece you will notice that one side is plusher and more snuggly than the other, and this is the "right side". Therefore, when I say to put "right sides together" it means that you should lay one piece of fabric over the other piece of fabric with the pretty sides on the inside (so that you are looking at the "wrong side"). This is because we will sew our fabric together and leave a small opening, through which we will turn the fabric right side out, leaving us with invisible seams, yay!
Slip-stitch: This is the stitch (also known as ladder stitch amongst billions of names, I am certain) that we will use to hand-sew fabric together invisibly. In the picture below you will see the basic steps of hand stitching. Start by folding (or rolling) the flaps of fabric inside the material and pin together to hold it in place. You are now ready to start stitching! Thread your needle and tie a small knot to hold the thread together. Don't forget to snip off the tail! Now if you look in the picture you will see how we pass the needle through the flap of cotton that has been rolled / folded in. Then we also pass the needle through the fleece (the flap that has been rolled in, of course) and pull the thread through to tighten. Just continue to do this across the entire opening until you have stitched it shut. End off with a knot and you've successfully sewn your hammock shut! It may not look perfect the first few times you do it (heck, it doesn't look perfect when I do it) but with some practice you won't even notice where it has been hand-sewn closed. You can check out this video to see me slip-stitching a hammock closed.
Grommet: This is a small, round metal object that is used to create a clean and thread-free hole through which you can pass hooks to hang your hammocks. When you buy a grommet pack it will also contain instructions for how to install them. This can vary with the size of grommet you purchase. Unfortunately, I can not tell you what size to get, it really all depends on what you use as hanging hooks. I use thin metal shower curtain hangers and so I buy small grommets, but if you use large plastic hangers or something else, you may need to purchase larger grommets.
Ribbon hangings: If you do not like grommets, ribbon makes an excellent alternative to hang your hammocks. You can either purchase ribbon or make your own from fabric. Making your own ribbon is easy and allows for a perfect match. If you'd like to make your own ribbons, simply cut as many strips of fabric as you will need ribbons. I prefer (but you can use any size you'd like) to cut my ribbons 2" wide by 6" long. Once you have your ribbon cut, cut a piece of double-sided adhesive tape (steam-a-seam or something similar) to size and lay it down on the wrong side of your fabric. Fold the edges of the fabric over the adhesive tape and iron as per the directions that come with your chosen adhesive. Voila! Ribbons!
When installing ribbons, make sure that you point the loop of the ribbon inward (line the rough edge of the ribbon up with the edge of the fabric). I like to stitch my ribbon in place so that it doesn't slip later while I am sewing, but you can just pin yours if you'd rather.
Foot: This is the part of your sewing machine just below the needle. It looks like.. a foot. When you are sewing, it rests on the fabric to help hold it in place, as well as give you a means to "measure" how far into the fabric you will be sewing.
Now that we've gone over some basic terminology, lets discuss the actual mechanics of sewing!
To start with, you'll need to cut some fabric! Don't worry, I will give needed dimensions for specific hammocks in their tutorials. This is just to cover basics that will apply to all hammocks.
Start by measuring your fabric (I generally measure my cotton fabric first) and cutting it out. Next, place your fleece onto your work surface with the right side of the fabric up. Now take your cotton, right side down, and place it on top of your fleece (this means that right sides will be together). Now begin pinning the fabrics together. Once you have them solidly connected, cut out the fleece! Don't worry if the fleece is a little bit bigger than the cotton, this will be trimmed down later anyway.
Once you have your fabrics cut out, you can begin to sew. Place the fabric into the sewing machine and put the foot down. You can see in this picture how I have the edge of the top fabric (the cotton) lined up with the edge of the foot. As I am sewing I will always keep the edge of the cotton lined up with the edge of the foot -- this makes sure that my seams are nice and straight! You'll also see, looking at this picture, that there are hatch marks on the machine to the right of the fabric. You can use any of these lines as a guide if you so desire (rather than the edge of the foot). Doing so will give you a wider band of fabric on the outside of the seam (which we are going to cut off after we finish sewing which is why, for hammocks, I just guide on the foot).
You should also notice in this picture that I have put the needle into the fabric! I always, always, always start sewing with the needle in the fabric (your machine should have a little knob or something that allows you to change the needle position without using the foot pedal). Doing this will make it less likely that your thread snarls when you start, preventing a nasty mess on the back of your fabric!
Now that your fabric is in the machine, it is time to start sewing! First things first, you'll want to make a knot in the fabric. With a machine this is easily accomplished by sewing backward and then forward over the same area. Each sewing machine is different, but if you take a peek through your user manual it will give you instructions on how to sew backwards (mine, for example, just has a lever that I hold while pressing the foot pedal that makes the machine run backward). Now use your hands to gently guide the fabric through the machine and to keep the fabric from bunching up as you sew forward. Start slowly at first (step lightly on your foot pedal) until you get the hang of guiding the fabric through the machine. I promise that this is not hard to do -- my five-year-old figured it out within just a few minutes so I am sure that you can too! Just remember to start slowly and keep your fingers away from the needle. Trust me when I say that you do NOT want to sew your finger into the fabric :p
When you get to the end of your fabric, you will need to turn it. To do this, make sure that the needle is down in the fabric! Now, lift the foot (leaving the needle in the fabric) and you will be free to rotate the fabric. Once you've turned it to your satisfaction simply lower the foot back onto the fabric and resume sewing. Obviously, do this for all corners :p Don't try to just turn the fabric as you are sewing or you will bunch your corners and end up with a rounded mess instead of a nice, clean line.
Once you have sewn all of the sides, you will begin to approach your starting point (which, by the way, I prefer to be in the middle of an edge rather than near a corner -- sewing corners with slip-stitch is harder than sewing regular fabric). Be sure to leave a space unsewn as you will need to turn your fabric right side out! Make sure to end off with a knot (by sewing backward and forward over the same area). You're almost done now!
Trim along the outside of the seams so that when you turn your fabric right side out you won't have any thickness in the corners. Make sure that you leave extra fabric over the area that is not sewn closed. You will need this extra fabric in order to slip-stitch the hole closed.
Now turn the fabric right side out. Stick a chopstick or other thin object through the hole and push it into the corners so that they will make a sharp edge, rather than being rounded. All that is left to do now is slip-stitching the hole closed and adding grommets!