No kidding! If I count my time in this it is a $430 pair of pants. But it was really a learning experience with how to do 3 dimensional curves and how to work with this new stretchy nylon Tweave. Thanks! This wasn’t even done on an expensive commercial machine. I used my little ole home machine for 100% of it.
Bumping this, because I found an old cheap sewing machine in storage. =) Which also caused a rabbit hole of searching. Wanting to make some webbing attachments, my machine likely will not work well for it. But should give me an idea. It's a Brother VX-809.
Try it. You never know. Check the needle and make sure its suitable and then get to work. Multiple layers of cordura and webbing may crash it though.
Not expecting it to work well, just a few pieces of webbing. Planning to eventually get a decent one- long way down the road. I see a lot of great deals on used machines, so I'll keep my eyes peeled.
Im a fan of the pre and post war singers. Good price and parts support and work well. Im also a cheapskate too.
Sewed myself up a hat. Cut up a military surplus cap to make a pattern from as well as recycle the inner brim stiffener sheet. Stretchy Tweave nylon and Polartec GridFleece
Sewed up a few small organizer draw string bags. I used it buy bags from longbow, but then he quit selling. Now I have to sew my own.
Decided to work on a belt pouch today. I did all the designing and gathering supplies and set up and then the wifey decided she needed some sewing practice. SO she sewed it all together for me Old Molle First Aid pouch that I copied for size and shape. Side 1 Side side with flap covering zipper Zipper exposed when flap is flipped up. Another view Another view
Continued:... #1 thing I have learned so far is the next version I need to double the fabric over for sturdiness. #2 while I thought a heavy duty metal zipper was ok... I might be swapping to a heavy duty plastic zipper. #3 I’m not sure which side I am going to put the belt loop on but I am highly considering the side that makes the flap face the body. I’m thinking it will be better visibility of contents and help prevent items from accidentally falling out. #4 For clarity the color should be a light blue... But I don’t have great lighting to capture that.
For Safety and Educational purposes I decided to do a melt/ burn test on my planned pouch liner fabric. Pictures thickest to thinest.. Results: #1 Orange. Provides greatest insulation factor. Melted easily thou.. #2 red . Melted less then #1 did not catch fire. #3-5. These did not melt but were easily ignited. Over all I am going to go with one of the 2 on the left of the blue fabric.
Well the wifey started on my Anorak / Bushcraft shirt today. I had the idea, the Design/ drawings, videos, made the pattern. Then she got so annoyed she decided she needed to help Cant say I complained to much Made from a 100% government issue wool blanket. Went looking the past couple of days for a large enough hoodie sweatshirt to make a pattern from with no success’s So today I ran across a NWT scrub top bigger then what I needed. Which was perfect because we could always cut it down. (Forgot to take a before photo) Cut to width and neck hole removed. For better visibility of the hole that is hard to see in the picture above Pouch and Sleeve pieces. Sleeves and pouch attached. Ended up having to put in arm pit gussets you can see the Triangle shape. Sleeves are full length they are just hanging off the table and you can’t see all of them. Top of pouch is squared and attached but need to RE center and finish the pocket Overall it looks a lot larger then it really is. It’s designed to be a overcoat so a little large is ok. Need to: Finish pouch Finish torso sides Design and make hood.. The official US government wool blanket tag. Unfortunately I could not use the US stamped logo it just didn’t fit anywhere.
you should get some of that plastic that @FortyTwoBlades uses for his sheaths..............would make a great brim stiffener/insert. (and cheeeeeeeaaaaaaap! )
“The green pepper” makes a nice anorak pattern if that doesn't work out. Looks great so far though!!!
Original sketch before pattern making. Today’s progress on the Anorak included: Sewing and attaching hood. Finishing large pocket Partially attaching hood draw string .. Hands out of pocket. Hands can be completely stuffed in large pocket with gloves on and still have room. You can see we decided to go witb more of a box style hood then completely round. This allows for plenty of room for additional head coverings or most types of head gear. Single piece back with high hood attachment point so nothing is falling and getting stuck behind my head. Worked on adding drawstring second half of the day. You might be able to see it a little but we have been having problems with the grommets and one actually went completely through the hood and a small repair had to be made... Currently working on a better closure method. But it works for now.
@olderguy I won’t subject others to my ugly mug when there is so much awesome in the picture to take in
