What is the current go-to down blanket to be used for other sewing projects? Current top of the project list is a sleeping bag/quilt for my small dog, among other things.

I've finally decided to start the proper jacket project (well 2 actually, as I'll be making a hardshell and a softhsell with similar design), but the hood has me a bit stumped (not in general, as I've made a windshell and silpoly rain jacket before). I'll be using these jackets for both skiing and hiking/mountaineering, as I'm not adding any insulation. The problem is that they require vastly different hood sizing: a hood thats big enough to take a ski helmet is way too big to use for anything else. I have half the mind to just make the hood hiking sized, since I never use a hood for skiing anyways, as my area very rarely gets wet snowfall up on the slopes.

But if anyone has made or seen a hood design that has the adjustability to use for both with a skiing helmet and without, please enlighten me.

Ignore the heat shrink on it

Hi, I'm looking for an European source of Teijin Octa Fabrics. I've only found it out of EU so ther are very high taxes for the small amounts I'm looking to buy.

Hello all!

I've officially been bit by the bug. After making a few tote bags and dry bags (will share soon!) I'm looking to make my first DCF flat tarp. I've tried searching around for patterns and advice but have come up with a few more questions than answers, so I'm hoping to get some support before I start!

My plan is to make a simple 7'x9' flat tarp out of .51 DCF with tie-outs at the ridgeline, corners, mid-side seam, and mid-panel. I also want to add a small loop inside for a bug net. My basic questions are about reinforcement and attachment. I plan on sewing everything and seam sealing with DCF repair tape the way the RSBTR dry bag kits have you work the seams. I'll be using Gutermann Mara 70 thread. Is this sound? For the corners and mid panel tie outs—how should I attach the linelocs? I've read some people sandwich the lineloc cord between two pieces of DCF of the same weight while others use a higher weight DCF for those reinforcements. Is there any orientation I need to be concerned about with regards to fabric strenth and integrity, as in lining up the 'grain' of the fabric? Are there any considerations I'm missing?

My rough calculation is I'll need ~6.5 yards of my main DCF fabric. ~3 yards of length per side, sewn together at the ridgeline. Using the same weight DCF for the reinforcements would be ideal so I can use the scraps/extra from the main body, but I want to do this one right!

Can anyone who has made a tarp like this weigh in? I'm not doing this to save money necessarily—it's for a friend and I'm just looking to learn. Thanks in advance!

Test strips of glued fabric with hems of silver fabric sewn to the ends in prepared for load testing

RTV silicone rubber can bond to silnylon to make and repair adventure gear. I first used orange silnylon and it bonded very well. My next grey silnylon formed useful but poorer bonds. I was curious to test the glue bonding strength of a range of silnylons as used by other MYOGers.

Thankfully I received several samples including one of silpoly. Many samples were very small, so I made testing strips by glueing 27mm wide strips with a 27mm wide glued overlap. Then I sewed on loops or hems to each end to provide anchor points for the load testing rig. The added hems were necessary because many of the fabric samples were too short to form hems from them.

The load testing was done by hanging a bucket off the test strip and loading it with 1-litre scoops of water as shown in this little video.

The test strips after being loaded to breaking point.

Spoiler alert! The testing was a big failure, but there were valuable lessons for us MYOGers. Five of the six silnylon test glue bonds did not fail, but the adjoining fabric ripped at a loading between 4 to 8kg, without breaking the glue bond.

Perversely, my poorest bonding silnylon (8, grey) supported ~13kg. I consider that the fabric breakage was due to the stitched attachment of the hems to the samples.

By chance, I interrupted a repeat fabric test of my orange silnylon (9) and caught an image of the fabric failing under load.

A back lit photo of a glued test strip before complete failure. The glued area is still intact, while the area around the bond has started to fail on both sides of the bond. It could mean that the longitudinal fabric threads are either stretching or pulling out from the sewn hems.

Please see my full post for a more detailed report

Tim

I'm trying to make a synthetic puffy off of a hoodie pattern but I've been stumped by what I've been finding in terms of free patterns. I've been mostly trying to get the hugo to work, but I really don't understand why it's making the neckline the way it is. I have a 41cm neck and 60cm head. I typed those in and it spits out a pattern with a neckline of just under 44cm. I realize I have a big head but google says even the average male head is 57cm.

How are people making hoodies off this pattern and getting their head through the neck hole? I realize a stretch fabric will give a little more circumference, but 13cm more for the average head size? I also see people have used the pattern with non-stretch fabrics like alpha direct as well. This problem doesn't seem isolated to just the hugo as well, this pattern I found also only has a neck hole of 46cm, still way below mine or the average head size. Am I not understanding how neck holes work, what's going on here?

Starting from the back. First time sewing since middle school. Bought a domestic machine for 25$ at the red cross. It was a pain in the ass top use that machine. The middle one was made from head during the sewing.

The big one is by far the best one. Any tips on what would make it better.

Fabric: tpac 220

I have a Coleman Sundome tent from the early 2000s that is in pretty great shape, except the fabric has completely lost all waterproofing.

I've read that you can use silicone diluted with mineral spirits to paint onto the fabric...but I'm wondering if anyone with first hand experience waterproofing an old tent can lend any tips or recommendations I might be missing?

Thanks!

Hi!

Has anyone ever installed a needle positioner on a Sailrite servo motor? It has the 4 pin connector on the back and the manual briefly mentions programming for needle position sensor - but sailrite doesn't sell a needle positioner.

The Sailrite servo looks like a rebadged Reliable so maybe their would work? Or are the sensors just universal so just buy cheapest one on Amazon?

TIA

Hey there,

as my current MYOG project - a down top quilt - is close to be finished, my brain is already thinking about the next project. My very first MYOG project (apart from some roll top bags made out of my old broken tarp) was a shaped tarp made out of 20D Sil/PU-Poly (roughly 3x3m).

Scouting through the usual retailers for the EU market I've stumpled across the X-wide 20D Silpoly by AdventureExpert with a usable width of 175cm. This fabric inspired me to quickly sketch up tarp and bug net tent combo in SketchUp to see if I can come up with a shelter system using only a single width of the fabric. This will cut down my weight from the other tarp, be easier to sew, no seam sealing required etc etc.

My current idea is a 2.6m*1.7m tarp (175cm usable fabric width minus 2cm SA for the hem on either side and a tiny bit of margin) and an A-frame bug shelter with a bathtub floor underneath.

Here's a screenshot of my current sketch so you can follow along:

https://preview.redd.it/fcerpi79vfbe1.png?width=1281&format=png&auto=webp&s=b85982c2b3a1abef93c5b6a4e4817ed127a1c50c

As you can see it seems to work out on paper. In the sketch I included a 10cm strip of solid fabric on the inner tent, but I want to keep the sewing part as simple as possible so I'm leaning towards a full mesh inner. But as the tarp won't reach to the ground some sort of solid fabric seems reasonable to keep the draft out, Also while doing the calculations for the amount of fabric beeded I've noticed that the mesh needs to be 180cm wide. So either I have to lower to ridge line of the inner tent or sew a seam at the top, Maybe adding a solid inner strip at the bottom is the more clever solution....

For the entry point I'm planning an upside down T zipper on the head/foot end. As the weight penalty is only ~20g per side I'll probably do an entry on both ends.

The bathtub will have two tie out points on each corner (top and bottom of the side walls) and I'm planning to add some sort of struts in the seam to give the bathtub more structure.

Current fabric choices (very open for discussion!):

• Tarp: 20D Silpoly X-Wide by AdvEx
• Bathtub floor: 20D Sil/PU-Poly by AdvEx
• Mosquito net: Either this one by AdvEx, or this one by ExTex - they seem pretty similar.
• Solid inner (optional): Some uncoated 10 or 20D fabric, not really sure which one.
• Zipper: YKK 3C

Estimated weight (full mesh inner and entry on both sides)

• Tarp: 2.64m*1.74m ~= 4.6m² -> 4.6m²*40g/m² ~= 183g (plus tie-outs etc ~200-230g total in the end).
• Bug tent:
  • Bathtub floor: ~3m² of fabric * 55g/m² ~= 165g
  • Mosquito net: ~4m² of fabric * 25g/m² ~= 100g
  • Zipper: 3m * 10g/m = 30g
  • Total: ~295g (probably closer to 300-350g with SA, hardware etc).

So a total weight of ~500-600g for a complete system seems to be very nice. (excluding all ropes and stakes obviously).

Fabric cost:

• 20D Silpoly: 3m*9.65€/m = 28.97€
• 20D Sil/PU-Poly: 3m**8.69€/m = 26.07€
• Mesh: 4m*4€/m = 16€ (6-8m needed for a full mesh, so 24-32€ instead
• Solid inner fabric: 3m*~10€/m = 30€
• Zipper: 3m*1.55€/m = 4.65€ (plus 4.5€ for the sliders)
• Total: ~110€

That seems to be a very reasonable price.

My questions to you:

• Do you know a good guide how to sew the upside down T zipper? Haven't found one yet and my experience with sewing zippers is very minimal.
• Would you recommend a strip of solid fabric for the inner tent? If yes which fabric (should be available on either AdventureExpert or ExtremTextil)?
• Do you think a 20cm overlap of the tarp on either the head and foot end of the inner tent is enough? I want to find the sweet spot between weight saving and weather protection.
• What kind of strut material do you recommend? It should be light and stiff enough to give the bathtub floor more structure but also flexible enough so it doesn't break if I stuff the inner in my backpack mindlessly :D Bear in mind it should be easily available in the EU.
• Any other critique on my rough design?

Thank you very much for reading through the chaos and hopefully you can answer some of my questions.

P.S: I'll post pictures of my quilt once it's finished - hopefully end of this week,

I want to create a Tom Bihn style tote bag that has three open compartment side by side, but am kind of at a loss on how to do it. My partner has a tote from them that I've been looking at, but I still can't figure out how all the panels go together.

Tom Bihn inspo: https://www.tombihn.com/products/the-truck

Has anyone made a bag like this? If so, any advice?

https://preview.redd.it/m611m3cpjfbe1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=59a6405ba2b5e11dfabfa30c784d0b699de08cad

https://preview.redd.it/vxvey2cpjfbe1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=917cd9c92c6f55403d997ed0b47ece3ede7932cf

https://preview.redd.it/ny4up2cpjfbe1.jpg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=444b4c539161be4f1e98ec470ce2b9c4770eb050

I have an older, lightly used 20 degree mummy bag that I find super uncomfortable and claustrophobic anymore. I'm thinking taking out the zipper and hood and re-sewing.

Is there a tutorial online anywhere that shows the steps needed to convert it to a quilt?

Hi!

I am new to MYOG and for my first project I thought it would be fun to make a completely water proof dry duffle bag that I can take canoeing to keep my sleep bag and clothes from getting wet.

I guess my main requirements are that it is:

• waterproof (especially the bottom that will like be sitting in some water in the canoe)
• hold at-least 60 liters
• handles for carrying
• value durability over weight

I was originally looking at the Sealline 120 liter dry backpack but I figure I could make something cheaper that would do a good enough job. I also think starting with a rectangular duffle bag would be easier than a backpack.

Does anyone have any suggestions on which fabric to use?

Or could point me towards resources so that I can get familiar with what fabrics are out there and what are the pros and cons of each.

Thanks for the help!

I made these 2 tool rolls last year for Christmas gifts on my mom’s old 1970s Singer. Canvas and zippers were just from Joannes, and then I waxed the canvas for water resistance. The tutorial that I followed wasn’t super great but these are totally functional! I’m looking forward to making more of my own gear in the future.

I finally got this industrial machine running after purchasing it last spring. I expected it to be basically just a stronger and more powerful home machine. Boy was I wrong. I have questions.

• the needle for this machine doesn't have a registration flat like a home machine. Do I just eyeball the orientation of the scarf?

• it doesn't seem like I have to take up the bobbin thread, it does it for me. Is that common? Is there anythingthing I need to be careful of with this process?

• I have it set up with text 70 thread. What is your preferred thread for backpack making?

• can anyone recommend a binding attachment for this machine?

• it seems like industrial needle plates usually only have 1/4 increment measurements. Does anyone know of one with 1/8 in graduations?

Making a board bag and wanted to know if anyone has advice about what padding/stiffener material to use for something like this. These are the two materials I've been kicking around:

https://www.sailrite.com/Batting-83-Thick-55-Wide#tabQa

https://www.sailrite.com/Fabric-Backed-1-4-Sew-Foam-58-10-yds-Rolled

Other suggestions are appreciated