d.i.y. tree straps

ok, i figured it was time for me to stop procrastinating and finally put up this tree strap tut...which is why i'm typing it at 11:50 at night. lol

so i made myself a hammock, even though i have nowhere at my house to hang it, and here is a tut on how to make straps to hang it up with.  the idea for this type of suspension system came from the slap straps by ENO.  it is basically a pair of polyester webbing straps wrapped around trees and attached to the hammock.  using straps like these also help in preventing damage to the trees since the webbing is wide and lays flat on the tree trunk.  so, in going along with my d.i.y. i decided to make my own slap straps, and by doing so i was able to make them personable to me...which of course meant tie-dye!  so on to how to make the straps.

to make your own pair of tree straps you will need:
polyester webbing - @ least 1" wide (i used 1.5" wide)
heavy duty thread

if you want to purchase fun webbing, Strapworks is a great source for that.  that is where i bought my tie-dye webbing and they have LOTS of patterns you can choose from!  they're also good for other odds and ends, too.  i used two colors of webbing to make my straps.  the straps are tie-dye and so for these you will need to get 18ft(6yds).  if you want to use a second color like i did you will need at least 4ft(1.3yds).  how much you get of the second color will determine how long your loops will be.  my loops were cut into 5" pieces b/c i didn't buy enough webbing; but it still turned out good.  if you're just going to use one webbing color simply add the additional length onto the 18ft of your main straps.

step 1:
take your 18ft and cut it in half to make two 9ft pieces.  make sure to burn the ends of every piece of webbing, too, to prevent fraying.  now that you have two 9ft pieces fold over 3" of one end on each piece to make a loop. sew in place.  i sewed mine in place by doing a box then doing an 'x' in the middle.

once your loops are made measure the remaining length of your webbing.  since i made five loops out of my black webbing i divided that measurement by five to know where each loop will be placed.

step 2:

take your other webbing, in my case the black webbing, and cut it in half.  then cut both pieces into 5" pieces.  so you will then have 10 pieces total.  finding your first mark on one main strap, fold the black piece of webbing in half and sew to the main strap.  repeat for the remaining four on your first strap and the other five on the seonc strap.  when it's done it will look like this:

and voila! you've made your own set of tree straps!

to hang your hammock, simply wrap the straps around your trees and feed the end of the strap through the loop of the main strap.  then you will put the carabiners on your hammock through a black loop.  that's all that's to it! and now you can enjoy your hammock!

i wrapped my straps around two doors for demonstration purposes.  i definitely did not get in it!  but, this is what your hammock and straps will look like when hung.

*also, when my straps are folded they fit perfectly into the attached bag on my hammock.  so you can store everything together.