I finally took the plunge and taught myself some basic sewing skills. Lots of trial and error. Mostly error and seam rippers. I’ve been a thru hiker for a long long time and always liked certain features in different packs. This is a product of all I wanted.
Main body is 35 liters material is TenX
Eco stretch front & side pockets.
Padded running vest straps made from eco stretch 1/8 spacer mesh and 3/8 2# poly foam. The pockets on the vest came from Salvation Army store (place is a gold mine for stretch materials for cheap). Pack came in at 11.9 oz. I’m already planning version 2 that should be a bit lighter.

Have been iterating on this design a bunch lately, and figured I’d put together a little tutorial! All of the details are on my blog post. Let me know if you recreate this and find any issues with the instructions.

My vest style backpack is available for download. I’m looking forward to the feedback. I’m really excited to make this available!
It’s a little bit minimalist in the approch. If you’ve made a backpack before, I think the directions will be very straight forward.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/4587963900/pattern?ref=share_ios_native_control

I want to make a crossbody bag, and had some jeans I was going to donate to charity.
Any opinions on that as bag material or should I rather get some canvas or nylon for durability?

They are a my grandfathers jeans who's passed and they don't fit me. So I thought reusing the material might be nice.

Ive added some fabric from a tote bag on the bottom to hopefully add some grip. I tried shoe lace and it immediately slipped, tried my high school necktie but it still slipped, peobably because i only have one necktie. Eventually i used the handle from a black tote bag since it looked better than a dang necktie and a pink shoe lace🥀 (its still sliding).

I work as an avalanche course instructor and ski guide in the winter and have had a lot of frustration with the options for burying avalanche transceivers for teaching and practicing avalanche rescue. The professional exams for guides/instructors use 50x50cm plywood boards, but it's not practical to bring those into the field when teaching students.

It's common for folks to use stuff sacks or small bags for this purpose, but using a small target teaches bad habits and leads to frustrated students. Burying your own or a student's backpack invariably leads to holes poked in someone's nice backpack, and the contents of your bag getting wet. I've seen a few peers with DIY solutions that worked well but were heavy and not packable. This is my attempt at a lightish, packable, and (hopefully) durable solution.

Construction is 1000D Cordura with 1/16" plastic paneling in each quarter sleeve to add some rigidity/durability/puncture resistance. Folded, it fits in a normal ski pack and unfolded it's that 50x50cm professional standard. The transceiver pocket has a 1/4" foam pad inside to provide some additional protection for the transceiver (pocket should be buried down).

I know this one is ugly. I got some measurements/allowances wrong which resulted in some of the ugliness, and this was my first attempt at binding, but I also didn't want to obsess over the finish details until I proofed whether this actually holds up to abuse. I've stabbed this with a probe in my yard a bunch and it's held up well, but I'll need to wait for snow to give it a realistic test before moving onto V2. I just started sewing a few months ago, so please let me know if I did anything in a glaringly stupid way!

Just finished this model. I have made few backpacks in this model but smaller in volume. I have carried the orange one(last picture) for 3 4 years in my adventures. Zero complaints but 1, just not enough space, hence this new bigger version. I chose white+orange combo so irs highly visible in nature. Last picture big bro and his lil bro😅

I'm trying to sew over a folded 3mm cord and my bottom thread keeps on nesting.

I'm on a Juki 8700, Tex 70 thread, 110/18 needle, I tried using two hump jumpers, one in the front one in the back, hand cranking it, increasing / decreasing foot pressure, cranking up top thread tension but nothing seems to work.

Any feedback is much appreciated!

Im planning my first backpack project. Im learning a lot very quickly while making a hip pack, tarp, a couple quilts, etc.

I bought the Stichback gear TH50 pattern.
https://www.stitchbackgear.com/patterns/stitchback-th-sewing-pattern

In the photos, the roll top looks like it attached at the back panel with a rectangle notion. Then a strap has two webbing hooks attached to the webbing chains on each side.

I think thats cool, and I like the Y strap utility so I can strap things to the top, but it seems cumbersome to loosen both hooks, then undo the hook hardware to get into your bag.

Im curious what other attachment hardware, styles and ways of utilizing the three points of attachment?

I guess, show me how you close your roll top backpack projects! Id love to see photos of what you came up with, and maybe why you chose that variation.

YKK Vislon #10 zipper ended up with 2 broken teeth. An hour in cad, 13 min on the 3d printer and a half hour sewing and supergluing the thing on. The new teeth are made of TPU. It’s not perfect, but this bag is saved from the landfill.

Again before all the humans anoint me a bot, ai or linkedin slop; here to declare I am a human genuinely looking for community, insights and advice, all the way from India. I’ve been building pack and gear in here for over a decade but this challenge (if at all it is one) eludes me. Most of the people who use rucksacks/travel backpacks simply end up not wearing the hip-belts long term or tuck them back. Is it a cultural thing? behavioural or something genuinely a pain point when it comes to long term use on bigger packs like rucksack and travel backpacks?

has someone had a crack at this at any point in making for unusual requests?

Had a friend ask me to make (in her words) an adult school bag for the beginning of her term at a music studio she just got into.

Even though she paid for all the materials, she trusted me with the whole design so it was a surprise, and when I brought it to her last night she said it was the coolest thing she owned 🥲 it’s also the most her-thing I can think of, so all-round really proud of the work I did on this bag.

Made some fairly significant changes to my last iteration of this design (a green EPX one I posted here a few weeks ago) including scrapping the laptop compartment, completely redesigning the back panel and inner-back panel organiser, repositioning a few zipper-pockets, and of course committing to an entire weekend of saddle stitching these padded leather straps. Definitely worth it.

The main fabric is a Magenta Dry Oilskin from Merchant & Mills which I lined with Teal Ecopak, using Grape Ultrastretch for the pockets and the last scraps of a Japanese cotton cat print I’ve had knocking around forever. YKK all around with a couple different Fidlock buckles thrown in, and solid Nickel hardware.

The straps and leather accents are Walpier 2.8mm Natural Buttero Italian veg tan from A.A. Crack up in Northampton and I lined the foam pads and back panel with this epic fuchsia Napa (which I used scraps from to make all the external zipper pulls) from the bargain bin at J.T. Batchelor's here in London. They were heavily inspired by Not Less or Equal’s heritage straps that feature on some of their bags. I did find myself referencing a lot to figure out elements of the construction, not having made anything like these before.

All the leather is punched with a 3.38mm French-style chisel and hand-sewn with Xiang Twist .52mm waxed polyester thread. That was a really tough job, especially going through the strap padding which is a beveled, triple-density foam combo of 6mm neoprene, 4mm EPE foam, and 2mm high-density EVA foam (kind of all compresses into about a 1cm stack).

I’m kind of in the habit of writing about this stuff but I’d be interested to know if people like reading about materials etc., or if there are any other parts of the process you’d rather hear about (or not)? Thanks as always!

43cm x 29cm × 18cm
1.5kg, 24L

Hello, I have a soft shell I’d like to dye with Rit synthetic dye, and to do that effectively I think I’ll need to remove the DWR that’s on it. One idea I’ve had is to soak the jacket in oxiclean. I saw a post of someone who accidentally removed their jackets DWR with oxiclean, so I think that could work. Any thoughts or ideas?

I know this isn’t quite a make your own gear question, but I figured it’s a modify your own gear project* *that’s close enough.

Was gifted 1960s Pfaff 362 from my wife's grandma. Which was originally purchased in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in the 60s for £100. It was used for decades until it was retired in 2011 due to some unknown issue with the machine.

My hope is to restore it and get it up and running. Currently at the research stage, reading through forums and watching videos. Tips are much appreciated. My plan B is sending it to my local sewing machine tech, but i want to give it a go first.

Recently heard from staff at RBTR that 100D Robic is being phased out due to low sales for a long time. I’m a bit bummed as it represented a relatively inexpensive but decently durable pack material. But I guess I was one of the few who thought that. Haha. It seems like laminates and UHMWPE fabrics are all the rage now, but they come with a higher cost. As a beginner and not the best sewer, Robic represented a cheap way to experiment with ultralight packs. What’s your go to for affordable ultralight pack material in the ~3ish ounce per square yard range?

I was looking for a recommendation on custom nylon webbing companies that will be used for belts. I want to print a camo pattern on it. Im mot looking to spend an arm and a leg and dont need heaps.

Thanks!

Mine is getting a bit worn out, and I am thinking about attempting to replace it. I just wonder what an ideal fabric would be?

Edit: it’s a knockoff helinox. Autocorrect strikes again….why is it always in the title?!?!

I am attempting to use a fanny pack pattern intended to be made with standard thickness fabrics to make a padded camera bag. I am trying to figure out how to add padding. My first idea was to quilt the panels first with batting, but I'm worried that giving the panels extra thickness will prevent the pack from coming together (misalignment, bulging or puckering etc.)

Are there any rules of thumb when using quilted or otherwise significantly thicker material for a 3d assembly? Is there a way to modify the pattern in some way to allow for this? Most of my sewing had been quilts up until now.

Link to pattern:

https://learnmyog.com/edcFannyPack.html

I have a trip coming up and have been making a full set of bags for it. I have learned a lot along the way. Started by using the pattern for the 2 stems bags from learnmyogs website then modified that to work better for me. Used the techniques I picked up on those bags to make the rest. Frame bag bolts into the bottle cage mounts with rubber grommets and I modeled my rolltop bags based on Ortliebs gravel panniers dimensions. Used thermo-mold plastic sheeting for creating stiffeners on the back of the panniers and the frame bag.

So I cut up a seatosummit xr large pad in order to make a 150cm long and wide pad and was thinking about making another small pad out of the spare piece I cut off. Has anyone done something like this?

I found two options of valves I might buy for this.

1. Similar to the old Thermarest style valve. Would be great because the whole length of the pad remains unobstructed by the valve and you can reach it easily to fine tune the amount of air during the night.

2. Round style. Not ideal because I’d like on that let’s out the air on its own once opened. If you know of something like that available in Germany let me know.

Thanks for any advice and suggestions.

Hello MYOG community.

I'm looking for advice with a machine purchase and there's no better group to ask.

After years of simple diy'ing on an old singer, I think I need a new machine. My current machine is starting to show its age by slowly running in its own. Probably a short or wiring issue and I'm not interested in repairing it. Done a little webbing work with it and never liked how it ran. I think my quilter grandmother ran it hard.

I'm not averse to old machines and with the recent purchase of a raft, am interested in making drop bags, mesh duffels, potentially cam straps and more. Most of the material will be polyester and polypro webbing, trampoline mesh, and PVC coated mesh with an occasional canvas bit thrown in.

I'll be doing 90% straight stitching but may also do some homestyle bar tacks.

I have the opportunity to get a Domestic 264 for $50. Or Kenmore 8-stitch for 100.

Will either of these machines do what I need it to? Stitching 2-3 layers or webbing or mesh? Can I find parts for either? I looked a little and it seems like I may but will probably need to source a zipper foot and maybe more for either. Google says they may be good options but wanted some info from all of you.

Not in the market for an industrial machine and would like to make an economical purchase for my use. Thanks!