My sister-in-law is willing to sew me a fabric (1.1 osy ripstop nylon) insert for my DuoMid (patterned off my MLD Mid InnerNet) for winter use.

My question for you MYOG'ers is how should she sew the ripstop seams - felled versus simply covering a single stitch with a strip of silnylon (like with the InnerNet?

felled or french felled is the way to go. No need to cover seams with the sil. Really no need on the mesh either, but everybody does it.

-Tim

Hi Brian

Sewing the light ripstop inner tent fabric is DIFFERENT from sewing silnylon or PU-coated fabric! So you WILL need to modify the seam.

To explain: both silnylon and PU-coated fabrics (and cheaper acrylic-coated fabrics too) rely on the coating to stop the fabric from fraying. With uncoated fabric you do not get this safety margin, and massive fraying at the seam is possible. Imho it is essential to fold the seam over and at least double-stitch it. A 'felled seam' is suitable for this, but variants are also OK.

Yes, I have relied on a single seam with uncoated fabric, and yes the fabric did fray and pull out of the seam. So remember: a fold at the seam and an extra line of thread weighs nothing compared to the problems from a 'blown' seam in the field!

Cheers

Thanks guys! I was guessing the non-coated nylon needed some extra insurance against fraying.

Hot-Cutting with a pencil-tip soldering iron will also help minimize fraying. If you are looking at a lot of MYOG projects it is a worthwhile investment.

you want to do the felled seams for a few reasons. 1) They are stronger than simple seams 2) They will cover the raw edge keeping it from unraveling 3) it looks the most professional.

The easiest way to achieve this is the french seam. It doesn't require you to fold layers, just sew twice and lay the flap down and sew again. Thru-hiker has a how to on French felled seams.

-Tim

Last question... any particular type of thread or needle? nylon vs poly vs cotton?

i just use guttermond and a size 10 universal needle. Nothing special. The thread is 100% poly.

-Tim

Thanks Tim!