What if there was a swing you could take with you everywhere you go? And every tree, pole or tube you see on your way is usable, you just take out your hammock chair and swing it !

This take out swing is the solution. This swing is like a K-Way ( rainjacket you can store in a small bag), the light weight (1 kg) and compactness makes it very easy to carry around. As second function, you can use the swing also as a protectionbag for you backpack against rain and wind !

If you wanna see the evolution, inspiration, thoughts, movies & extra photo's of my swing-project, you can always visit my blog : http://vrommanlisaswing.blogspot.be/

Step 1: MATERIALS & TOOLS

Materials you will need

Parachute silk ( this silk is rain- and windproof and is used for rainjackets, tents, hammocks,...). You will need 2 pieces, one for the swingseat: 90x200 cm and one for the little store bag: 27 x 47,5 cm.
Nylon rope 4,5 mm
Nylon rope 8 mm
2 carabiners
2 cable stockings
2 8-shaped metal hooks
Copper wire
Leather 40 x 44 cm ( you can go to the local shoemaker and aske for some overage, like I did )
Clothing stretcher, thickness 15 mm
Ducktape

Tools you will need

A solid sewing machine & green + brown sewing thread
Drilling machine + bore of 2-3 mm
Metal pen & hammer

Step 2: SEWING THE SILK & MAKING SLOTS

You start with the piece fabric of 90x200 cm.

Like you see on the pictures above, in the first step you sew the fabric double to 90 x 100 cm and create 6 slots. The 6 slots are 7mm wide and are located 18 cm away from each other on the fabric. It's best to start with all the vertical (100 cm) sewing lines and afterwards finish with the 2 horizontal sewings ( 90cm) , skipping every slot.

While sewing the horizontal lines, don't forget that the slots remain open at the ends, so you can weave in the nylon rope in the third step.

Step 3: FOLDINGS & ADDING THE CLOTHING STRETCHER

In the next step you'll make the "hammock-shape". You make the two ends of the fabric narrow by folding the fabric and adding a clothing stretcher, going from 90 cm to 20 cm.

First of all you add the foldings with the sewing machine. You make foldings of 15mm at the ends, you pin this up with headpins to hold it together and you go over it with the sewing machine.

Adding the clothing stretcher ( 15mm, to make it solid ) is the next step. The stretcher is being sewn on top of the silk. Here you also have to be careful that the slots where the rope wil come remain open. This doesn't have to be perfectly sewn, because this part will dissapear into the leather triangles, this second step is just to make the ends narrow and solid before you attach it into the leather.

Step 4: ADDING THE NYLON ROPE & CONNECT IT TO THE CARABINERS

Before you start to weave the nylon rope 4,5 mm through the parachute silk, you burn the ends of the rope with a lighter or attach a safetypin to make the weaving easier.

After that you start to weave the rope through the fabric. You make 3 big loops at both sides ( see drawing ) that come together in one point, where you will connect the ropes with the carabiner afterwards.

With a strong pliers you widen the carabiners, so the 3 ropes will fit better into the carabiners. Then you drill 4 small holes at the ends of the carabiners, as you can see in the photos. This holes are made to attach the copper wire.

Now you can start with connecting the ropes and the carabiner at both sides. You lay the ropes in the carabiner and turn the copper wire wrapped around the carabiner, using the holes to make sure the wire will not fall of. After that you wrap de duc-tape around it, as extra solidity.

Step 5: PREPARING THE LEATHER

For this leather, I went to the local shoemaker and asked for some overage.

For the ends of the swing (that also are the handles of the bag) you need 4 rounded triangles. The only important measurement is the length of the underside, it has to be 21 cm exact. As basic for the triangles, you take 4 times 21 x 20 cm.

To sew the leather on the fabric, you can use a strong sewing machine or ask a favor to your shoemaker, who has strong machines for sewing leather. If the leather isn't too thick, you can perfectly do it with your own sewing machine.

Step 6: MAKING THE BAG

At the first picture ( the drawing) you see the pattern of the fabric for making the little bag. You cut out a piece of fabric of 27 x 47,5 cm. Also the two hatched parts at the top need to be cut out.

The middle part of 5 cm (see the drawing) will be the bottom of the bag, you fold the fabric in two around the bottom and sew the left and right side together. After that, you turn your fabric inside oud and the little bag is ready !

Now you can test if everything fits in ( photo 3 & 4) before you attach the bag to the leather in the next step.

Step 7: CONNECTING THE LEATHER TO THE FABRIC

the leather around the ropes and carabiners is just finishing touch, the leather itself does not bear any forces. The forces when swinging and holding the weight come together where all the ropes connect around the carabiners.

At one side you need to lay the extra strip on top of the little bag between the leather and the fabric of the swing, don't forget this before you glue and stitch everything together!

You take two triangles and lay them around one end of the swing with a carabiner and attached ropes. Before we start sewing the triangles, you glue everything together with a strong glue. After that you can stitch the leather on the fabric + stitching the two triangles together, following the shape.

The hole through the carabiner is the last step, you can see the method on the third photo. With a big metal pen/bar and a hammer you make a hole in the center of the carabiner.

For extra strength you can sew around the hole by hand, with a machine it's too hard to get between the metal carabiners.

Step 8: BIG ROPE & 8-SHAPED METAL HOOKS

After a rough calculation, I assumed that each rope must be 5,7 meter, so I bought a nylon rope 8mm of 13 meters (to have some extra) in the shop and cut it in two parts.

Also here, you burn the ends of the rope with a lighter, so it would not fray out with time.

You attach the 8-shaped metal hooks at each end of the two ropes with a tight knot and throw them over the twig or pole you find (tip: use some weight to throw) and you lower it until you can touch it. You push the other end of the rope through the other hole of the metal and you pull the ropes until the 8-shaped metals rests just below the twig/pole.

The two ends of the ropes hanging low are ready to attach to the swing now.

Step 9: ADDING VELCRO

As finishing touch, we add velcro, so you can carry the bag around in two different ways as you can see in the pictures above!

You cut out 2 pieces ( you can choose the shape yourself) and sew the first part to the bag and the other side of the velcro to the leather. Now you can close your bag !