Bushwalk Australia

Could anyone suggest what kind of thread I would need to make a tent. Is it cotton-poly or nylone? I'm not sure!

I'm sewing Polyurethane Laminate fabric. It's waterproof and strong. I'm using a regular domestic sewing machine (straight stitch only)

Any information on the type of thread and thickness would be great.

Thanks very much!

Not sure which to recommend but Tiergear has a supply of different types (some out of stock at the moment).
https://www.tiergear.com.au/11/products ... pun-thread
I haven't used Rasant myself but it is suggested to be suitable for tents.

They are polycotton..
My only question now is what size thread (how thick?)

You really need to supply a bit more information about the fabric. A lightweight tent (fabrics up to say 2oz/sq yd) would use a medium polyester or corespun thread about Tex 40 (one of several methods of sizing threads) with a size 80 to 100 needle. For very light fabrics (under 1oz/sq yd) and seams that are not heavily stressed then you can use a lighter thread and smaller needle. If the fabric is heavier then a thread with a higher Tex number and a correspondingly larger needle. The normal sewing threads for clothes that you buy at Spotlight etc is likely to be around Tex 25.

I could be wrong but it's my understanding that for a waterproof tent you're better off with a 100% polyester thread.

Thread weight/thickness is probably more complicated but I think you generally try to match it to the fabric weight, as Mark just wrote. However, I recently replaced the inner door zipper on my Nallo 3 tent (a 4m long zipper) and noticed that Hilleberg had used a much heavier thread than the tex 30 thread I was planning to use. Their thread looked and felt the same as the tex 75 thread I had used to sew a large backack. So I sewed the new zipper in with the heavier thread. It seems fine and I suspect either thread (tex 30 or 75) would have worked in this case.

Sorry we are a bit light on with regards to thread at the moment but usually we use a high tensile polyester thread Metric 60/Tex 45 for our silpoly and silnylon tarps with size 12 needle. For customers sewing typical silnylon/silpoly or similar we usually recommend around a Tex 40 as Mark suggested above, like Mara 70 (polyester corespun), Rasant 75 (polycotton corespun) or Saba-c 80 (polyester corespun). We do have one spool of Mara 70 in blue here that is not listed on the site if you get stuck, and depending on the weight of your fabric.

Cheers

Simon

Rasant 120 for most seams on tents, with a #60 needle.
Rasant 70 for webbing and one or two really major seams on a tent, still with #60 needle
Bonded nylon (somewhat heavier) for packs.

Cheers
Roger

So why does Hilleberg use what appears to be a thread of ~75 tex to sew a nylon fabric of weight 35g/m2 (1.03oz/yd2)? It's not just on certain seams, it's on all the seams, even the stuff sack.

Orion wrote:So why does Hilleberg use what appears to be a thread of ~75 tex to sew a nylon fabric of weight 35g/m2 (1.03oz/yd2)? It's not just on certain seams, it's on all the seams, even the stuff sack.

That would be a question for Hilleberg but it is overkill if it is 75tex in my view. Perhaps they just like to over-engineer their tents. Roger seems to have no drama's using Rasant 120 on his tents, and that is a thread that has a relatively low breaking strength, which we use exclusively on our quilts.

Orion wrote:So why does Hilleberg use what appears to be a thread of ~75 tex to sew a nylon fabric of weight 35g/m2 (1.03oz/yd2)? It's not just on certain seams, it's on all the seams, even the stuff sack.

Maybe it is simply cheaper when making up to use the same thread on every sewing machine in the factory but possibly as Simon says. To keep up the overkill reputation
I have no problem usually with using bonded nylon 60 except when sewing silnylon

So why does Hilleberg use what appears to be a thread of ~75 tex to sew a nylon fabric of weight 35g/m2 (1.03oz/yd2)? It's not just on certain seams, it's on all the seams, even the stuff sack.

Several possible reasons.
They don't like resetting their machines.
Less chance of breaking when sewing at very high speed.
Less hassles stocking only one thread.
Don't have to worry about which thread to use at any stage.
Questionable management ideas.

Most of these I have in fact heard from other tent mfrs. Needless to say, the lack of aesthetics upsets me.


Mostly Rasant 120 on silnylon.

Cheers
Roger

I'm not sure what you mean by aesthetics. The stitching looks great. The seams don't require sealing. While lighter thread is strong enough, what is the downside of using stronger thread?

Orion wrote:I'm not sure what you mean by aesthetics. The stitching looks great. The seams don't require sealing. While lighter thread is strong enough, what is the downside of using stronger thread?

I think you've almost answered this already - weight.

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