Sewing Thread....A discussion on making your own adventure textile gear.

[The Artisan]

You have the seat so there is a number of ways for a better fit. I sometimes have my seats scanned for cad files, sometimes trace old but the best way is take measurements off the seats. For foam you can repair or recut foam sections with band saw, glue and reshape. If cheap buy off shelf when you can.
Kevin

 

[BritKLR]

You have the seat so there is a number of ways for a better fit. I sometimes have my seats scanned for cad files, sometimes trace old but the best way is take measurements off the seats. For foam you can repair or recut foam sections with band saw and shape. If cheap buy off shelf when you can.
Kevin

Thanks. One of my many summer projects!

 

[The Artisan]

Thanks. One of my many summer projects!

Yw. Everyone always says teach me how to sew. I tell them go buy a machine and start practicing. Anyone can sew but how straight and how even is the question? I was told the same about welding. I had a CE 200 amp with fluxcore, I now have a good esab with gas and will just practice till I get better. These are seats I am wrapping up. Only dry fitted, french seams need to be added and covers synched. If they fit well like this dry they are perfect when complete.
Kevin

 

[BritKLR]

Yw. Everyone always says teach me how to sew. I tell them go buy a machine and start practicing. Anyone can sew but how straight and how even is the question? I was told the same about welding. I had a CE 200 amp with fluxcore, I now have a good esab with gas and will just practice till I get better.
Kevin

So true. The welding analogy has always been the best example, both literally and figuratively! I got started due to the lack of civilian LE tactical gear in the eighties. When I was assigned to HRWT the only gear was surplus Vietnam army surplus. I would purchase, cut, sew and dye my gear and team mates gear (aka: "stitch-**********" all the love....). This was almost 15 years before 5.11, Blackhawk, Maxpedition, tactical trailer, Eagle, etc....came about.

 

[BritKLR]

Along with seam tape, I use a desk stapler for some things. Unlike pinning, staples wont come out when manipulating heavier fabric.
Obviously, remove when object is finished.

For those long seams a box of binder clips or small clamps can come in handy. And, just time on the machine will develop those technical skills.

 

[BritKLR]

Zipper Tip-

This is an old, but handy tip. Color indexing the zippers on your Gear Bags. Simply use different colors of 550 paracord on each zipper therefore identifing the left (black) /right (green) sides of the bag so that you can quickly identify the orientation of the bag and which end certain items maybe in the bag. Example: your fashlight is on the left (black) side of the bag and the toilet paper is on the right (green) side of the bag......emergency avoided. (Works well with weapons, ammo, tools, kitchen gear, etc..as well) Good luck!

 

[rayra]

However I found working with Ultrasil exceptionally difficult. Are there any tricks to working with such light and mainly slick fabric? I just had trouble even pining the heck out of seams, particularly long ones, keeping things straight and square.

When I was working with the light slick 1.1oz ripstop of my awning project I found I was having feed trouble, the pawl wasn't really advancing the felled seams with that slick thin fabric very well, so I wound up taking the length of fabric up in both hands and holding it under some tension and running it thru mostly by hand roughly at the speed the machine was trying to advance it at. I got a good seam with a little practice.
My bigger trouble was that I was running very long seams / lot of fabric thru - even with a very large table to work on - so I put in a lot of pins during setup just to keep everything aligned. Heads positioned away from me, so I could sew the 16-20" run I held between my hands, then stop, holding the near end of the run with my right hand and pull the pins on the next section out away from me to clear the way, then run the next section thru. Kinda backwards to how you are supposed to pin things when the fabric advances properly.
Wasn't a great way to do it, but it worked.

Things got a little easier when I did a two-toned double layer panel (actually 4-layer as the folded edges came together. The thicker stack and once-sewn seam was a little stiffer and fed much better in my cheap machine.

Mk2.5 / Mk3 awning is held off. I want to reinforce all the edges of newer larger vehicle-covering panels with 1" flat webbing, but I know this cheap machine and its plastic drive train won't survive it. And I can't really throw $400-800 at a substantially better sewing machine. I've got too many hobbies to do any of them well.

My sewing stuff is described in the link in my sig

 

[The Artisan]

Staples are your friend in sunbrella or the likes. I never pin anything I sew. All staples
Kevin

 

[sonarman]

Has anyone sown a winch cover?

 

[krick3tt]

yes but I made one out of black Sunbrella and it fades to grey.

 

[BritKLR]

Has anyone sown a winch cover?

Many......primarily waxed canvas, but have done just as many in Cordura, Sunbrella, rubberized material and neoprene. Have gotten away from doing them due to the number winch and bumper configurations (factory and home made). Really need the bumper and winch present to get the exact measurements. Another popular winch accessory is a drum cover. They're easy to make and cover and protect the synthetic rope/wire from UV, weather and road grime.

 

[SnowZone77]

I learned to sew on my mom’s 60s era Singer. I had a job in high school sewing canvas tents for a children’s summer camp in a big Pfaff. I moonlighted on that machine making a couple of boat and bimmi covers. Learned a lot about pattern making and getting windows and zippers to go in properly (or at least look decent, and work well). When I got my first full time job I bought a Kenmore walking foot that I have abused the ***t out of, but I’ve been on the hunt for a decent used industrial machine to sew heavier fabrics again.

I’ve found that painters tape as well as staples work well to hold lighter/slicker fabric together until they can go into the machine.

 

[BritKLR]

Just finished these custom Tool Bags for the next three Earthroamers and one, HD ER. Due to the very unique build for each ER and owner specification of each truck, they come with a very particular set of tools. These bags were custom designed for each trucks Tool kit.
From a sewing stand point they are made with waxed canvas exterior, 1000 D Cordura interior, full wrap Riggers webbing Handles, (3) YKK # 10 zippers, (1) YKK #8 zipper, fully taped seams, triple ply bottom (canvas, two layers of 1000 D), hidden zipper panel seams, 5 internal pockets inside one large zippered pocket and 3 internal pockets inside the large kangaroo pocket with side release buckle, rainfly zipper, embroidered logo, individual truck serial number, one-large zippered/embroidered lined canvas tool pouch for tire tools (not in photo). There is 34 individual peices that are hand patterned and cut. Sew time is approximately 8-10 hours per bag.

 

[Lucky j]

Just finished these custom Tool Bags for the next three Earthroamers and one, HD ER. Due to the very unique build for each ER and owner specification of each truck, they come with a very particular set of tools. These bags were custom designed for each trucks Tool kit.
From a sewing stand point they are made with waxed canvas exterior, 1000 D Cordura interior, full wrap Riggers webbing Handles, (3) YKK # 10 zippers, (1) YKK #8 zipper, fully taped seams, triple ply bottom (canvas, two layers of 1000 D), hidden zipper panel seams, 5 internal pockets inside one large zippered pocket and 3 internal pockets inside the large kangaroo pocket with side release buckle, rainfly zipper, embroidered logo, individual truck serial number, one-large zippered/embroidered lined canvas tool pouch for tire tools (not in photo). There is 34 individual peices that are hand patterned and cut. Sew time is approximately 8-10 hours per bag. View attachment 508907View attachment 508908View attachment 508909

Wow, nice.

Lot's of planing to get this done! Great job.

Sewing a bag and all the component is as hard as knowing how it will all come toogether on the machine!

 

[BritKLR]

Wow, nice.

Lot's of planing to get this done! Great job.

Sewing a bag and all the component is as hard as knowing how it will all come toogether on the machine!

Thanks. I really enjoy the planning, patterning and assembly process. I also enjoy working with waxed canvas it just seems like a cool, old school textile.

I did go through my "black" tacti-cool Cordura period for many years. I really enjoyed creating LEO/SpecOPS mission bags, concealment rigs and non-traditional body armor garment systems. Since now everyone wears 5.11/tacti-cool garments we modified Northface, Marmot, Cabelas, Filson, Archteryx, etc... jackets to accommodate armor panels. So that the operator/agent/LEO wouldn't stick out due to the civilian popularity of 5.11 clothing.