How parachutes are made
Canopy panels are cut on a slant to the weave, so a rip runs into a seam and stops there.
- stations
- 8
- things upstream
- 44
- raw sources
- 15
- steps from the ground
- 8
The short version
Parachutes switched from silk to nylon during World War II and never went back. Ripstop nylon is cut into panels on the bias, sewn into long wedge-shaped gores, and the gores are joined into a round canopy. Every seam is inspected, tape and V-tabs are sewn on, suspension lines are stitched to the hem, and a rigger ties them to the straps the jumper wears.
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Weave ripstop cloth
High-strength nylon filament is woven with a thicker yarn every so often in both directions, leaving a grid of small squares. Those heavy yarns keep a small tear from spreading.
32 to 200 denier
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Cut panels on the bias
A computer-guided cutter, or a worker with a round-bladed electric knife, cuts pattern pieces at an angle to the weave. A tear then follows a yarn into a seam, where it is stopped.
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Sew panels into gores
Four trapezoid panels become one long wedge, a gore about 13 ft long. A two-needle machine runs twin rows of stitches in a French fell seam that wraps the raw edges inside.
about 3.96 m per gore
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Join gores into a dome
Gores are stitched side by side, typically 24 of them, until they close into a circle. Their narrow tops leave a small vent at the center.
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Inspect every seam
Every panel and seam passes over an inspection table. A weaving flaw, a sewn-in pleat or the wrong stitch count per inch rejects the whole canopy.
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Tape and hem the edges
Tape is sewn over each radial seam for strength. At the vent and the outer skirt, fabric is rolled around webbing and closed by a four-needle machine in one pass.
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Stitch on the lines
An automatic machine sews a V-shaped tab at each seam on the skirt, identical every time. A line about 20 ft long threads through each tab and is zigzag stitched in place, and short apex lines cross the vent.
about 6 m per line
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Tie lines to the links
The free ends of the suspension lines are tied to steel connector links on the jumper's straps, each in its set position and kept straight. This step is called rigging.
Goes in
Worth repeating
- Most parachutes were silk until World War II cut off supplies from Japan, and Adeline Gray made the first jump on a nylon one in June 1942.
- Sport parachutes are ram-air wings with two fabric skins joined by ribs into cells that inflate from vents on the front edge.
- Every reserve ram-air parachute is rectangular, because that shape opens more reliably and is easier to fly.
Back to the ground
Follow every input upstream and parachute starts as these 15 raw sources.
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Sources
These sources say little about the factory steps themselves, so parts of this line are a general description. Treat the details with care, and tell us if you know better.
Cite this page: "How parachutes are made." Assembly Line, 2026-11-03. https://assemblyline.org/make/parachute