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Got pics of your tarp? Using an industrial machine?

It's just a 10x10 square with a bunch of paracord loops around it. Nothing fancy. You sure don't need an industial machine with silnylon. Just use a lot of pins because it's very slick. I made it to be a tarp, not a shelter. If someone wanted to make a fancier shelter, a little more time with the design could come up with about anything you want.

Here's a site that sells silnylon seconds at a much lower price. That's what I used and I can't see any problems at all.
SECONDS

Hilleberg is introducing a pretty cool tarp in January, I believe.

Regular sewing machine goes through the 550 easily enough? That's what I thought might necessitate an HD machine.

Silnylon is thinner than taffeta. It's 1.1 oz ripstop nylon. Any sewing machine will breeze through it. Just use a sharp needle. What's 550?

I've also made backpacks using heavy coated 5 oz. cordura. A regular machine will go through at least 4 layers of that, too.

550 cord = paracord.
You've answered my question on the stitching. Thanks.

Ok. The paracord isn't a problem as long as it will fit under the foot on your machine. It will on mine easily. It's pretty squishy so it should work on about any of them.

Nearly 20 years ago I had a friend sew the tarp I have used the most for backpacking, an 8x10 flat sheet of kite cloth, also called spinnaker cloth. It was the lightest weight till sil-nylon came out. Never weighed it but am guessing under 8 oz. total and rolls to the size of a paper towel core.

I would make it at least 9x12 if doing it again.

For a solo bivvy I have considered carrying one uncut and unsewn piece of fabric. 60 inch wide would be minimum, 8 or nine feet long. If you could find 72 inch wide fabric it would be better. Melt the cut edges to stop fraying and either sew in some ties or put in some lightweight grommets. My Golite poncho serves that role for me now.

Do you want a minimalist tarp or a larger one with more coverage and creature comfort?

I have designed a flat tarp with ties to convert it from flat to enclosed to the ground all around. Never sewed it and am less likely to now. I anticipate that Seek Outside will offer something similar one of these days, a natural progression.

Right now I'm looking more for something that will provide some additional shelter. Not necessarily a tarp/tent to be the only shelter for sleeping/camping, but just something that I can put up to get out of the elements when I'm away from camp.

Check out the Seek Outside, Beyond Timberline-2 (BT2).

It's not the lightest compared to a square tarp. But for a 25 ounce canopy, you can pitch it in 'open' ways, or button it up tight as a tipi, and fend severe weather.

For something to just hunker down in for a short time, how about one of these emergency bivy bags? They weigh almost nothing and sell for under $20. There are other similar brands, too.

We've tied a mini-tarp to stunted trees and rocks to hunker under while waiting out a rain squall and glassing, the same tarp I carry for minimal bivvy. A flat tarp is usually more versatile for such applications. My son often cuts open a large plastic trash bag to use as such a shelter. He's a hero to his mother for doing that on an afternoon hike when they got caught in a rain squall.

They make a breathable one, that I've not used. The non-breathable one...is not so great.