Anyone into Sewing?

Anthony Altemara wrote:

Forgive me if this has been covered, but search did not help. 

The chalk bag I made out of some hiking pants material has a problem. It is very sensitive to creating clouds of chalk when jostled even slightly. I'm guessing it may be because the material is too air tight? Does anyone have an understanding as to how to reduce the chalk clouds?

Did you install a liner? I could see that being helpful to give some buffer room between the outer and inner wall. Is it creating clouds when closed or open?

Hey, I'm looking for recommendations / to buy fabric for patching softshell pants. The thigh pockets on my Arc'teryx Gamma pants are worn where my phone sits, and I'd rather reinforce the pants than send them away. 

I'd love to get some black, gray, or khaki material of at least 8"x8", or somebody else's retired pants of similar fabric! 

Max R wrote: Well since i’m stuck at home, i’ve started playing with my gf’s sewing machine more. I’ve seen a few cool DIY packs on here. Whats everyone making? Where do ya’ll get your fabrics from?
 
Here’s a few of my recents.
That stuff looks pretty good.

D Mond wrote:

 That stuff looks pretty good.

Jon Banks wrote:

Did you install a liner? I could see that being helpful to give some buffer room between the outer and inner wall. Is it creating clouds when closed or open?

Yeah, I put in a cotton liner (formerly a soft bedsheet). It happens mostly when it's open, but still a little when closed.

Cosmiccragsman AKA Dwain wrote: I am looking for someone who knows how
sew webbing to climbing specs.
I have a unique design for a climbing product that would
go over well with, excuse the term, Trad Climbers.
Shoot me a PM so we could talk.

Dwain

I have used this product for many years and it works well
I had one of my old climbing friends who isn't around anymore sew the prototype
It works fantastic!

Hey, I think I can help you,I hv a friend who worked in a manufacturing facility of climbing gears, including harness, now he has started his own ,he got industrial baryack machine to sew webbing.

I've deployed it in this configuration about a dozen times..

Would you mind sharing it?

Been sewing since the 90's.

Should have taken more photos, but finished up a small ledge. Super fun project although it took me forever to actually finish it! 

(4ish hours for the bed, 2 ish hours for the haul bag, 2ish hours for tube prep) 

Followed Brent’s design for the frame and took a bit of a swag for the bed. Turned out pretty well! Have the components to make one more. 

~24l vest style scrambling/fastpacking bag I made. Still have to trim some cords and webbing to the right lengths, left them long for testing. Unfortunately I'm horrendously out of shape this season so haven't been able to test this bag as much as I was hoping. This was the prototype for this design, already starting another one for my partner that is so much cleaner. I think the perfect number of bags is n+1 ;)

always amazed at how talented/skilled people on this thread are!!!

Erik J wrote:

That looks awesome!

~24l vest style scrambling/fastpacking bag I made. Still have to trim some cords and webbing to the right lengths, left them long for testing. Unfortunately I'm horrendously out of shape this season so haven't been able to test this bag as much as I was hoping. This was the prototype for this design, already starting another one for my partner that is so much cleaner. I think the perfect number of bags is n+1 ;)

Yawn Bosco wrote:

Anyone got any beta on making pants speciffically? Patterns/resources/tips?

I’ve had success sewing jackets/hoodies, but wondering where to look for some info about pant making. Kind of tired of wearing the same old stuff and interested in making my own and experimenting with materials.

Is it better to use a serger on pants? Seems like it would make finishing easier/more straightforward but I have only used single needle machines previously so any thoughts or tips are very welcome.

Thanks!

Try The Rain Shed in Oregon. They have lots of patterns the ones from them are good and they also have Green Pepper patterns, Daisy Kingdom, and ones from Controlled Exposure Are very good. They also sell fabrics and notions. 

Pete Nelson wrote:

Nice! What'd you use to stiffen the mouth and hold it open?

I just use 2” polypropylene webbing and fold in half and stitch to the top and give it like 5 rows of stitching which will stiffen the rim. I do have an industrial walking foot machine ( Juki LU 562)   I make my chalk bags from windstopper fleece. 

How do you accurately pin and cut fabric? It feels like I can’t pin stuff right so it stays in place, and I’m getting really messy edges when I cut with scissors. I’m wanting to make a few things like an apex climb shield quilt, a bivy, a hammock, etc 

Repurposed some old blown out foam into a “new” crash pad. also found some old fixed line scraps of the base of the wall yesterday and used those for grab loops. Fun little project 

Matt Carroll wrote:

Should have taken more photos, but finished up a small ledge. Super fun project although it took me forever to actually finish it! 

(4ish hours for the bed, 2 ish hours for the haul bag, 2ish hours for tube prep) 

Followed Brent’s design for the frame and took a bit of a swag for the bed. Turned out pretty well! Have the components to make one more. 

Yeah, the design he offered did inspire ours(Dorf included). I personally didn’t like the bathtub-style bed, we went full bullet joiners/and over the edge bed. The key selling point is having two people be able to sit on it as well as one to lay down. The integrated straps sort of inhibit that.

Yours probably weighs less.

H P wrote:

How do you accurately pin and cut fabric? It feels like I can’t pin stuff right so it stays in place, and I’m getting really messy edges when I cut with scissors. I’m wanting to make a few things like an apex climb shield quilt, a bivy, a hammock, etc 

Rotary cutter and cutting mat will clean up your edges.  Maybe try metal clips instead of pins.  I use clips a lot because I'm mostly sewing on thick sheath and pins don't work.   amazon.com/Clamps-Spring-Cr…;content-id=amzn1.sym.393b97ff-a095-4874-b1c4-ba61ec323005&pf_rd_p=393b97ff-a095-4874-b1c4-ba61ec323005&pf_rd_r=SD1S3TXZ8YS4XVGSNJFC&pd_rd_wg=qYig0&pd_rd_r=8fbabea3-bb2c-4ad1-bdda-c84541a86a1b&pd_rd_i=B09TQFVM9M&ref_=pd_bap_d_grid_rp_0_1_ec_ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_bia_item_1_t&th=1

H P wrote:

How do you accurately pin and cut fabric? It feels like I can’t pin stuff right so it stays in place, and I’m getting really messy edges when I cut with scissors. I’m wanting to make a few things like an apex climb shield quilt, a bivy, a hammock, etc 

Make sure you’re using proper scissors. The ones from your kitchen drawer won’t do.