How to Make a Nylon Tarp
Making your own nylon tarp can be a great money-saver. A nylon tarp has several advantages over a vinyl tarp. A nylon tarp is lightweight, uses less-expensive materials and can be sewn on most home sewing machines. One of the disadvantages of a nylon tarp is its susceptibility to degrade with exposure to the sun. This negative aspect can be minimized by choosing a nylon fabric that has been specially treated to be UV-resistant, and by storing the nylon tarp out of the sun when it is not being used.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Measuring tape
- Nylon fabric
- Scissors
- Two-sided adhesive tape
- Sewing machine
- Fabric pencil
- Grommets
- Grommet setting kit, including punch and setting dies
- Hammer
- Polyester rope or line, 1/8-inch diameter
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1
Measure the area you want your tarp to cover. Add 8 inches to both the length and width measurements to determine the raw size.
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2
Cut nylon fabric panels to the length measurement. Cut as many nylon fabric panels as needed to add up to the width measurement. If your finished tarp is to be 10 feet wide by 12 feet long and you are using 48-inch wide fabric, you would cut three fabric panels 12-feet, 8-inches long each.
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3
Stick a length of two-sided adhesive tape along one of the selvedge edges of one of the fabric panels. Create an overlay seam by laying the selvedge edge of the next fabric panel on top of the taped edge, overlapping by 1 inch. Press down along the overlap so that the tape will hold the panels in place.
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4
Sew a stitch line ¼ inch in from the top-side selvedge edge. Turn the panels over and sew another line ¼ inch from this selvedge edge.
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5
Repeat the process of adding panels until the width desired is reached. Trim the width of the joined nylon fabric panels to the raw width measurement.
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6
Fold over 2 inches of the edge of the nylon fabric and sew a stitch line along the edge of the fold. Continue folding and sewing around all four sides of the nylon fabric.
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7
Fold over another 2 inches along the edge of the nylon fabric, tucking the 2-inch hem inside the fold. Sew down the fold by stitching along the stitch line that was created in the last step. This creates a three-layer hem where the grommets will be set.
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8
Sew a stitch line ½ inch in from the outer edge around all four sides of the fabric.
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9
Mark all four corners for grommets in the center of each corner hem. Mark along the sides of the fabric, in the center of the hem, the spots where you will put grommets. Space the grommets evenly but no more than 2 feet apart.
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10
Punch holes at your marks. Insert a flanged grommet into a hole, lay a flat grommet on top, and set the grommet by hitting the setting tool with a hammer. Repeat the setting process until all grommets have been set.
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11
Place your finished nylon tarp where it will be used and tie it down securely using 1/8-inch rope laced through the grommets. Try to space the tension equally on all of the grommets to avoid undue stress on a single grommet.
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