Im about to make a new fly for an old Sierra Designs tent, using silinylon, and the old fly as the pattern. My grandmother will be sewing it for me, shes very experienced but has never sewn silinylon. Is there anything i need to tell her about special stitching requirements, or needle sizes, etc. ?

Sil-nylon is very slippery, so you need to practice a bit with some scrap fabric to make sure you can handle it correctly. Use lots of small pins.

--B.G.--

As Bob said, use LOTs of fine pins in the hem region. LOTs.
Use a fine thread - finer than the common shop stuff if you can. I use Rasant 120.
Use a fine needle - #60.
Watch the thread tension - don't make it too high or it will pucker.
Keep the fabric under tension as you sew or it will pucker.
Think of it as very light silk.

Cheers

Edited by rcaffin on 10/09/2010 16:58:23 MDT.

For durability, use only 100% nylon or 100% polyester thread ... no cotton or cotton blends as it rots fairly quickly in the outdoor environment.

Top fabric will slip vs the bottom fabric.

The two will be lined up at the beginning of a long seam, but not at the end of the long seam.

I use a number of hand stitches - one at both ends and several in between, but using pins is more normal.

Gutermann 100% polyester thread is commonly available.

Couple pictures in article http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/myog_silnylon_floorless_2-person_tent.html