C'mon you tough manly men...who sews? I've hand sewn my whole life it seems. I'm always fixing buttons and stuffed animals(six kids). This week I bought myself a sewing machine to learn a new skill, and to make some of my own gear. So far I've made several things...some semi-failures. The highlights are a nifty little center zip pouch, and what I call the UmLiddy...a top lid pouch for my Umlindi. They're crude and missing some details I'd like for them to have when in the "final" stage...but they're a start lol.
Those are some nice pouches! I know there is a couple of folks on here that are AMAZING with a sewing machine. (Not me) I personally have been sewing by machine and hand for at least 30 years. Doesn’t mean I am any good and “making” anything sewing. But I think I’m pretty decent at repair work. I have patched up a lot of gear, clothing, costumes, stuffed animals and furniture in that time. I honestly rather enjoy sewing repair work. I have made plenty of “unusable” items usable again with a little patience and I highly underrated skill.
So tonight I did a thing. Yes, it's a miniaturized Tara Pocket...it docks right up to the front of my Umlindi. I made a pattern so I can perfect it when my Cordura comes. This one is in duck canvas.
Tried it in essentially full-size this time. It's been fun mocking these up and practicing pattern making, but I've got plans for a much-improved front pocket for the Umlindi. Don't pay attention to the corners not fully popped out and a couple seam buggers lol.
Nothing fancy...just the Singer 44S 'Heavy Duty' at Wally World for $160. But it's doing great, all things considered. I've managed to slow it to a crawl through four layers of canvas AND zippers, but otherwise it's done an admiral job.
Here it is mounted up. My one regret is the height of the top lid. I'll shorten the height by an inch on the final build.
Thank you sir! I'm two weeks into teaching myself how to use this machine, and having a blast. I'd like the top lid shorter in height to make for better access to the zipper on the Umlindi. I went back and forth on adding wand pockets to this guy as well, but finally decided it wasn't necessary. The only things I didn't do on this final prototype; are add a bulkhead between the upper and lower compartments, and velcro loop-line the interior of the lower. I'll do those on the final model. The idea is to have the upper compartment easily accessible for gloves/hat/socks, and the lower for general overflow from the main bag. It docks up to the bag in the native fashion, using the webbing loops to attach via G Hooks to the various compression straps horizontal/top/bottom. It works great!
Waxed canvas tool roll, for my spoon/bowl carving tools. I've been buying cheap canvas and waxing it at home.