sorry kate, but for me handstiching eyelets falls into the" you've got to be kidding me" category. If they work so great, how come no one uses them in commercially manufactured outdoors gear? Especially the high end stuff where there's tons of attention to detail, to stress points and so on. Hand done eyelets might be great for corsets and costumes, but I sure wouldn't trust it to the stresses of what ma nature can dish out, or even a well tied knot.

Based on what I see the key to successful grommet life is the right selection of materials for reinforcement and for predicted stresses. Early Winters certainly did it right, and many other tent makers too.

ps