How to Make a Mexican Hammock

The hammock is a sling traditionally made of woven fabric and used most often for sleeping. It was developed in Pre-Columbian Latin America and enjoyed widespread use on the Yucatan peninsula two centuries before the Spanish conquest. This area is still known for its hammocks, and many of them are still hand-woven. You can make one yourself.

Difficulty: Challenging

Instructions

1. Use lighter materials made of pure cotton. The body is made of threads that are about the diameter of standard knitting cotton. The support strings at each end of the hammock are typically very thin, less than 0.5 mm in diameter. To compensate, there may be 400 of them at each end.

2. Allow the hammocks enough width to hold two adults comfortably. This style of hammock can open and close easily but has a tendency to stay somewhere in between. A Mexican hammock is known for its comfort, probably because it does not have a fixed knot.

3. Separate each line rather than pairing them. The line will cross over, go over two lines, under two lines and then cross over in the opposite direction.

4. Tie the net with fine knots. This will make the hammock extensible and adapt itself to your body. Frequently, the hammock is made by having a jig hold the incomplete part as each row is knotted.

5. Make Mexican hammocks in the traditional manner. Each hammock requires four to five days to make when knitted manually.

Resources

• Learn more about making Mexican hammocks.