Topic: The summer of sewing. (Read 9610 times)

twentyclicks · « **on:** July 08, 2011 »

Spurred on by FlipB's micro-tarp, two other dilemma's regarding kit, money, and flicking through Ray Jardine's Trail Life again one night, I now have a lot of fabric, webbing and buckles coming my way

Here are the items, the need, and what's needed to make them.

Micro-tarp: I'll be bivvying on a mountain trek for 2 weeks in September so a little bit of extra protection will add to the comfort if needed. I'm using a 57g/m² PU ripstop nylon, 12mm polypro webbing and some dyneema for the guylines hopefully.

Half quilt: Said bivvying will require night temps between 5-15 C. My one season bag is 700g and is rated to 8, but it feels weird near its limit. I will have an insulated jacket anyway for the evenings so may as well use that insulation to sleep in. I've always fancied an 'elephant foot' like Alpkit PD20 so it seems like a solution in this situation to insulate my legs; but I have decided not to zip it so it is more like Ray Jardine's quilt (with a foot box and draft collar) - this will give better ventilation options for the warmer nights. May be able to make this as little as 350g.
57g/m² Pertex 4 in a light blue for the top and draft collar
51g/m² lining in black for underneath
100g/m² thinsulate 2.79 tog for two layers of lining

Rucksack: I need a slightly bigger pack, and had hoped to acquire an awesome Crux AK37 for an excellent price through my work. Alas, such things were not possible, and I was kind of happy because by now I wanted to make my own, and thought even the venerable Crux had a few things I would change about it (not something you want to do to a £120 pack)! This will be the hardest thing to make no doubt. I will probably mock it up in paper or cheap fabric first to get it right. It will be heavily based on the Crux as it will need to be an alpine pack, but hopefully I can leave some bits off for the trek, and some bits off altogether. I may even order the Crux titanium stays to use as they are even cheaper than the aluminium tent poles I would otherwise be using

Rucksacks need lots of bits so I'll not list every last thing, but mainly a light PU 500 cordura for the main body and a better coated version for the base, with light ripstop for expansion/snow collar. There is then a mix of 40/20/15mm polypro webbing with associated buckles, clips, rings; some elastic, shockcord and locks, velcro, closed cell foam and a zipper (waterproof zips are expensive so may have to settle for a rain flap)!

Had to be a little conservative as I barely have full designs and haven't done this before. Thinsulate was acquired from Pennine Outdoor (along with some cheap gear proofer) as Point North (where I ordered most other bits) are out of it and their other offering seemed inferior. Between the two, postage stung me around £20. Dyneema cord may be the next biggest individual expense, but the rest adds up. Will probably hit £100 before the 3 items are finished, but that's probably still 60% saving on similar items at retail. Economies of scale would quickly come in if making more than one, but then your time has to be charged for! Need my sister to give me a few sewing lessons now

Will update you as I go.

twentyclicks · « **Reply #1 on:** July 21, 2011 »

Material has arrived. Hopefully get something easy started this weekend.

What I have noticed in my planning is that many rucksacks are no-where near their stated capacity... just measuring the top opening (width x breadth, or pie x r² ) and multiplying by height gives noticeably less volume, even allowing some litres for a lid pocket.... not to mention that the climbing sacks I was measuring actually taper significantly at the base which would mean my estimates are grossly generous!!

To name a prime example - Berghaus Arete 45... <33L main compartment not accounting for taper

height = .55m
top = .30m back, .20m sides, .24m front
base = .25m back, .18m sides, .17m front

They must really squish those packing pellets in. When I was told Crux measurements were quite generous, perhaps they meant 'more accurate'. Going to have to eyeball this and hope it's in the right size range for what I need... will see if the paper mock-up can take some items without falling apart.

twentyclicks · « **Reply #2 on:** July 21, 2011 »

actually, best way to do this is in mm and divide total by 1,000,000 to get litres.

twentyclicks · « **Reply #3 on:** August 08, 2011 »

Well, the first of the projects is complete.

RedLeader · « **Reply #4 on:** August 08, 2011 »

Pics?

Quote from: twentyclicks on August 08, 2011

Well, the first of the projects is complete.

twentyclicks · « **Reply #5 on:** August 08, 2011 »

er, sorry RedLeader.... that was pre-mature. As I was saying, the micro-tarp is functional. My sister has an industrial sewing machine which has good foot-pressure so there was no material slippage. I am also now fully competent in setting up said machine and fixing recurring issues. The only trouble is that it is really fast and super sensitive... I can get the needle moving glacially slow and then next thing it's out of control! Hence, some of the stitching you are about to see is pretty mad...

"Steel" PU coated ripstop and 12mm webbing from Point North, 2mm dyneema from a sailing supplier on eBay.

No lifter patch or front edge guy points yet... may use one of those clip-on lifter points...

Bivvy bag position.

Foetal position gets nearly full protection.

Crazy stitching. Machine can only do straight stitch, so back & forth many times instead of bar-tack.

The other side. Was not too precise with the scraps for reinforcement; just folded in edges, but it gives more for the webbing to stick to. Just noticed how the other fellas oriented their webbing which would have saved a bit of stitch weight, but I didn't want to try sewing a double-layer (was having enough problems

)

Fits in the palm of your hand. 191g as is. Will probably use some Alpkit Y-pegs (14g each) as they are lighter and cheaper than the Hilleberg ones in work. Will need 5-8 to pitch.

Started the quilt the other night also. Found using both feet on the pedal and ditching the shoes has got me almost making perfect seams! It should be fairly quick to do as it is all big straight seams - reinforcement patches and little webbing bits take a long time as it is all start-stop. Just as well - only 3 weeks until I'm away and the rucksack is still to go!

whoRya · « **Reply #6 on:** August 08, 2011 »

Fair play to you. It must be very satisfying to see something you have made yourself. Although I'm sure the most satisfaction will come when using it and enjoying it.

RedLeader · « **Reply #7 on:** August 09, 2011 »

Awesome, good job mate.

twentyclicks · « **Reply #8 on:** September 30, 2011 »

Well, the summer of sewing was a success, and just in the nick of time. Now I'm back I've managed to blog about the quilt and pack.

A great experience that brings both greater affinity and less attachment to the gear... I love using it, and it's really satisfying when the features work out for you; but when a little cosmetic thing breaks I'm not as upset as if I'd paid for it. Need to make a few amendments to the pack and may make a different quilt (but will try to source some more modern fabric and insulation). It all (inc. tarp) held up well and left nothing to be desired on the GR20. Just need to get my NI-Wild badge off LennyJ to put on the pack lid

Thoughts and opinions welcomed. Happy to help anyone else interested in such projects.

Pictures:

specimanYak · « **Reply #9 on:** September 30, 2011 »

Wow, the pack is really impressive, it really looks good, i like the detachable sit mat, a brilliant idea, kudos to you

twentyclicks · « **Reply #10 on:** October 01, 2011 »

Cheers! I had to sew it in anyway and realised I could pull it out like the OMM Villain or Osprey Mutant. Proved useful at least once so far.

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twentyclicks

The summer of sewing.

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