Sewing Your Own Gear

Barney · 10-23-2012, 11:49 AM

Does anyone do this? Do you have a sewing machine and do you even know how to do it. I bet it would be interesting to make your own gear. Especially because you'll have a lifetime warranty.

Grandpa · 10-23-2012, 12:17 PM

Grandma does some repair work for me but her machine is not heavy enough for the kind of fabrication I would want on my outdoor gear. One of my daughters has a heavier duty machine and has made some lighter stuff for me like stuff sacks, sleeping bag liners and zipper repairs. But to start making stuff like packs or anything with webbing would take a heavy industrial machine rather than the common household machine.

I recently bought a new tent. One of the webbings wasn't sewed just right and started coming apart. They gave me a new tent as a replacement for it but daughter went ahead and sewed the old one back up. She got it repaired okay but broke a needle trying to get through that heavy webbing.

Pathfinder1 · 10-23-2012, 02:20 PM

Hi...

Nope, never had a sewing machine. Wish I did though. Would help me put some clothing/camping gear ideas together.

In the past, I used to hand sew my own clothing repairs. Now I just use iron-on patches..although few repairs are needed any more.

hummingbird · 10-23-2012, 02:22 PM

You definitely need an industrial machine Grandpa. I used to have one and did a lot of repair work for us and for our friends. It was wonderful having a machine I could use to do things like that. I tried to make a replacement for the carry straps for one of our tent totes and it shall we say...became unrepairable. The machine was very old anyway and I couldn't find parts so we scraped it. I miss the old lady though.

oldsarge · 10-23-2012, 06:20 PM

I used a standard machine to make map, compass and small survival cases. I can get away with minor touch-ups on some items but a heavy duty machine would be much better.

Theosus · 10-23-2012, 08:57 PM

We all had to take home ec in junior high. Everyone cycled through art, home ec, PE and music. I learned to sew there, and never thought I'd use it. My wife bought a cheap machine to make some home crafts. After digging up my repressed junior high memories, I practiced a bit, and finally sewed my own underquilt following Internet instructions on hammockforums. It turned out pretty nice for my first try, and kept me from freezing last trip. Now I'm trying to design a packable camp chair I can suspend from a tree limb, like a hammock chair.

Cappy · 10-23-2012, 09:32 PM

Workin'on a boat for a livin'and being away for a month at a time ya gotta know your way around a sewin kit. Peg is an exelent sewer, the quilt I sleep under on the boat was her work. OUt of the 10 or so non-tee shirts I own she sewed all but 1 of them. For gear repair we both use our apolstry needle set. Peg is currently using them to recover the sofa cushions, and if she aint finished Thursday when I get home I'll help.

ppine · 10-24-2012, 11:50 AM

Sewing kits for things like sleeping bags were very popular in the 1960s and 70s with names like Frostline and Holubar. I have hiked with people plenty of times that were using equipment they made back then and it is still functional.

Barney · 10-25-2012, 11:11 AM

My grandmother used to sew pretty good and a lot of my clothes as a kid were made by her. Nowadays it is hard to find anyone that knows how to do it.

Grandpa · 10-25-2012, 11:50 AM

Actually, a goodly number of the ladies around her are quite accomplished seamstresses. Even with the newer hi tec fabrics, the machines are much more versatile. Computer guided machines, both analog and digital, sergers, and better support equipment make sewing quite easy. However, the stuff to make heavy gear still requires a heavy machine.