[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Score...sewing machine = man fun (Page 1 of 3)
Posted: 9/5/2008 5:25:12 PM EDT
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Just picked up an older Kenmore sewing machine and a new in the box Singer 8280 for $30.00. Lately I'v been trying to learn how to sew to make cool stuff like slings, bags, rain fly, etc. If I get good, I'll buy a machine that will sew thicker materials but for now I'm just learning the basics. Anyone have any links to sewing patters or instructions for making cool man stuff? Bucky145 |
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Welcome to the club. But remember, we make gear...we don't sew. I've got a Singer Merritt 2404 from the 80s. I really like it. You can go to thru-hiker.com to get a decent tutorial on making stuffsacks. I sort of followed them but not to the letter. I didn't think it was real clear in some parts. I winged it and I'm happy. I'm waiting on a fabric sample of some uncoated ripstop to make a cat-cut tarp. If I can waterproof it myself ok I'll go ahead and order about 10 yds of it. Much cheaper than silnylon. You can also visit diytactical.com which is more inline with arfcom since it deals with mag pouches, tac vests and stuff like that. Very good forum. And you've got to get their shirt that says, "Chicks dig men that sew."  As for the thicker stuff you'll probably want an industrial to go through anything like it was butter. Be prepared to spend a pretty penny. I priced some in recent months and new or used they were running around a grand. ETA: Decided to provide my instructions. 1. Measure and mark. It's hard to tell but I used a fabric pencil to mark things up. Sadly, I learned that you can't just follow the lines in the ripstop and expect things to come out square.  2. Marvel at your cutting job  3. Get stitchin'!  4. Stitch the sides  5. Stitch the bottom  6. Add a reinforcement patch and add a manual buttonhole. This is where the drawstring will come through the fabric after creating a channel for it to run through.  7. Giggle with glee at your finished product. Uncinched  Cinched  The Whole Shebang  I really wanted to use black paracord for the drawstring but all I had left was camo. Oh well. And yes, my machine is pink. 
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Cool thanks. Just finished watching an instructional video and getting both machines set up. My daughter and I ran through a few practice stiches and we had a good time. My daughter claimed the new Singer, and I got the Kenmore. The old Kenmore runs great. I've lerked at DIY Tactical and also sailmakers.com. Lots of good info and materials. I felt a bit strange shopping for needles, thread, and fabric today at the sewing shop. Everyone kept looking at me like I was way out of place.  sew = make gear......got it  Bucky145 |
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www.lightfighter.net "Roll Your Own" section. Don't be qn asshat or they'll ban you asap. Also, make sure you follow the instructions and fill out your profile and say hello in the newbie section or they'll ding you for that too, but there is a TON of infornation on that site. Also try www.diytatical.com Lots of tutorials there. Welcome to the club...I started "Building gear" (NOT sewing) about 4 years ago on my wife's machine and now I have 5 machines including a MItsubishi LS2-190 Industrial that I use to build MOLLE gear. It is a sickness much like BRD and is incurable.
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jax ill bring you some treats at the hike. ive got some extra grey/green silnylon and junk here you can sample. making your gear rocks,,,saves weight, and canmake ya some $$ i paid off my machine from trades and sales the 1st year. granted even my "cheap" 350$ machine..it didnt take long.... |
Another DIY 'gear builder' reporting in  I have no 'manhood' issues - I use a Husqvarna sewing machine  CarbineMom indulges me and will let me use hers (but checks to make sure I'm not doing anything too thicK). The old Singer is GTG for anything I can get it to poke the needle through, and I'm not as afraid of the consequnces if I break it. Practice is your friend. Patience, and going slow. And measure twice, cut once but it is a lot easier to recover as a DIY gear builder than doing woodwork. ETA: Thanks for the links too |
I feel your pain. JoAnn's had a sale of 50% of all notions over Labor Day. I was stocking up and getting funny looks. Yesterday I was looking for a pattern for some tactical cargo pants to go with the digital camo material I found on sale. There I was going through the catalogs with several womenz. At least the camo made me look manly.  btw, I really love using a twin needle for professional looking seams.
That would be greatly appreciated! Thx! |
Blaze orange works well to keep you looking manly there too 
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You have to first make sure that your machine is equipped to use double needles...not all are. There should be a button or setting to tell the machine your are using twin needles, as the bobbin works differently in that case (depending on the machine design). Find your manual online and check it to see if you have twin needle function. If you have two spool holders on top of your machine, there's a good chance you can do twin needle stuff. |
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I don't have to do anything special with my machine to run a twin needle other than run another spool of thread. I feed it almost 100% like the main thread but I don't run the second through the last step. I put it through the tension feed and into the needle. I don't do anything different with the bobbin either. All you should really need is a machine capable of doing zigzag stitches and a throat plate with clearance. If it can zigzag there shouldn't be a problem since the zigzag would move the needle about the same width as the two needles are apart. Hope that made sense.
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I've been making gear for a few months now. It's an addiction. I was using my wife's machine; but I thought I was going to break it sewing cordura and webbing! Just a few days ago I got a great old machine from my local sewing machine repair place. It's a Webster, and it looks like it's from the 1930's. Built like a tank! All steel--no plastic. It sews through cordura and webbing like a hot knife through butter. This is a table-top sewing machine, smaller than most modern household machines; but it weighs about 35 pounds. I never thought I'd be so happy to get an old used sewing machine!  But I've been making some great gear. 
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Ok, now talking about coupons in regards to cloth and "sewing" items, that is raising questions about mancards! I can see it now, a line waiting for the sewing store to open cause a big sale is on and there is some guy in camo fatigues pants and an arfcom T-shirt in line with a bunch of wimmenz.. That could bring all us ARFCOMERS into question. What the hell? |
Someone's got to make all that tacticool shit you buy to impress your friends... ...mightas well be one of us arfcommers, right? J/K I spent the day designing and building a new chest rig for a new toy I bought a while back. BTW: check my tagline... |
Obviously you haven't priced silnylon lately. Not too long ago it was in the $5/yd neighborhood. Now it's averaging about $10-11/yd for 1.1oz. It can take 8 yards to make a tarp with a 12' ridgeline. A 40% coupon can save me about $30. Damn skippy I'll be right there with the wimmenz.
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I had to go to the local Hancock fabric store to get some #18 needles for the mil-spec thread I use. It was a Saturday, and the place was packed. I was the only guy in the store. Most of them were old or homely (or both); but there were a few cheerleader types in there, too.  For all you young guys looking for nookie, hang out in your local fabric store! If you're worried about your manliness, just wear Multicam.
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A chest rig I made: Some AK mag pouches and a dump pouch I made to go on the chest rig: A Garand en bloc clip panel I made for the chest rig, holds 12 en blocs: A camera bag I made that has a hideout in the bottom: Garand stock pouches: M1 Carbine stock pouches: A Garand en bloc bug out shoulder bandoleer: Does that motivate you?  |
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Here is another site you might like: www.whiteblaze.net It is a site for hikers, esp. thru-hikers, of the Appalachian Trail. Go to the "Home Made Gear" forum. Lots of stuff about tarps, homemade ultra-light sleeping bags, etc. Also cooking stoves made out of Coke and beer cans. John |
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ST’s Sewing Shop/Man Room. Ok, so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring. Fun thread. My little piece of heaven or my own 11 x 14 prison cell? Whatever your perspective may be, it changes depending on how tedious the work becomes. My shop is ½ of our small basement. The other half of the basement is my wife’s storage and our laundry facilities. Currently I’m a one man show with one sewing machine. I have been sewing gear for about 2 years now. Notice in the picture below a table in the background with work in progress.  Also a quick note, if you observe the tool cabinet above. This has been one of the best investments I have ever made. Up until a few years ago I had been living out of boxes most of my life moving here or there every few years and never really unpacking. I had accumulated a lot of tools etc. that were spread everywhere. The tool box along with the shelves makes my life much more organized now. I can thank my wife for that. lol Anyways, good investment. Below is another table with my current project. I store rolls of foam padding and other stuff under it. I find it easier for me to work efficiently when my stuff is laid out so I can conceptualize it and track the projects progress.  In yet another picture below I illustrate my simple yet effective storage solution for my materials. Again I really appreciate these shelves. I bought them at Home Depot for around $80 or so.  A picture of me working with my Juki 1541S sewing machine. It has a servo motor as opposed to a clutch, this enables me more control over the speed of the machine.  Here is another view of this beautiful piece of machinery. She is powerful too. Why, I bet she could sew ¼” plywood, no joke.  Here is a picture of my workbench below. I cut out my prototypes and do my R&D work here. I installed a nice vice, I also use it for working on firearms, everyday household tasks etc. Notice the discreet EDC / Laptop prototype bag on the bench. This is my current project im working on.  Currently my projects are cut out by another firm. Eventually I would like to add a large cutting table and a bar tacker along with a couple of Consew machines. Of course I need more room. I am Looking forward to continue growing. I could go on and on. I will end here though with one more gratuitous picture.  I brewed it myself. It is a Belgian Strong Dark Ale. It finishes out at about 9.5% abv. I have brewed this style more than a dozen times so I have the recipe down. It is a sublime experience to consume and enjoy. mmmm good!!! Ok so how did I do? I provided sewing pron, rifle pron, gear pron and beer pron all in one post.
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I almost bought the same machine/table/motor but didn't figure it was wise to put $950 into my first setup. Very sweet setup though. |
Yeah this machine was almost twice that. Im considering for my next machine a Consew 205 I think is the nomenclature. They are in that price range ( $950 ). I noticed a few guys over on the DIY sight have a Tacsew. Im wondering how reliable they are and how competitive in pricing they are. |
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I to recently got into gear making. I'm using my great grandmother's Singer that my great uncle brought back in 1958. It stills runs great, though it does not have any fancy features that newer machines have. So far I have made a couple ruck sacks, a tactical hammock and finished a box kite two days ago. tothewoods.net/HomemadeHammock.html Here is the pattern I used for my hammock. tothewoods.net/JeffsHikingPage.html Half way down, there are a bunch of links for outdoor fabric dealers. Edit: post 600 
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Cool link. Anyone have more plans for gear making stuff? I have lots of ideas but a few more would be an added bonus. Thanks Bucky145 |
www.diytactical.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=101&Itemid=128 scroll down watch videos duplicate |
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wow to think 2-3 yrs ago,,,,none admitted they sewed in here sides egg...glad i helped all you guys come outta the closet not big into the tact gear deal here as my machine wont handle the load. im setup more for UL style porjects for backpacking. mostly silnylon and 1.2-1.5 ox rip and dwrtreated ripstop nylons. TNS. that PC looks pretty dang nice.... youve come A LONG way from when we 1st started talking! now let me dig up some of that 1st run, only 3 weeks into gear you made for picture comparison i kid i kid.. my 1st tarps looked like a monkey with a spool of hemp twine sewed them
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You don;t kid. I look at some of the stuff I built 2-3 years ago and think WTF! I have learned a lot from egg and others on LF and just by trial and error. I am about to embark on a major venture and if it works, I might be sewing "fulltime". How funny is that to see typed on a forum? ETA: I appreciate all your wisdom as well.... |
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Lots of nice work being shown off here. For those of you out there trying this to save cash think again. In reality if you value your time. It is cheaper these days to buy your gear. It takes quite a bit for me in R&D and time to come up with a product that is suitable or marketable. This doesn't include the material waste etc. Prototypes that I make being a perfectionist are never suitable. So I end up making the prototype then sit down and figure where I went wrong here or there, what I can improve, then i make the final version. And lets not even get into seam ripping. Im a seam ripper extraordinaire. lol EXAMPLE: I want a a larger gear pouch, Molle. Well I lay it out from scratch, cut it out, sew it together. F@#k it up, either rip some stitches or do another. I may easily have 4 hours from start to finish in a simple gear pouch from scratch. My time to me is worth a minimum of $25 an hour. So I may easily have $100 worth of my time in it, not including material costs. Not until I have a final suitable product can I make them effectively and efficiently through an assembly line process. So even if i wanted 4 gear pouches it would be easier and cheaper to go buy them for $20 - $25 a piece. Hope all that made sense. If you want to make some unique items, or start a small shop for some spare cash then it may be an investment. The market however is very saturated. Hopefully this put some perspective into the tactical sewing world. |
about the only way i saved was on my tarps. basic solo tarps wiz bang them out, save 50$ on makingthem my own compared to online prices.. now thats shooping around very hard for fabric on sale..now days.. its not worth my time due to prices. |
TOO TRUE! I enjoy making the stuff and the little I sell after prototyping sometimes pays for my gear. I have a very inexpensive website and I occasionally make some play money, but all in all, I'd say I agree completely. Especially about the sticth rippin. 9 out of 10 I'll start over just cause I HATE ripping stuff out, LOL. Again, I ain't bitchin, cause most days my choices come down to watching TV or making gear. Guess which I pick? |
nice BTW-I had Gyrene8490 "fix" a set of SKD chest rig shoulder straps for me and they came out nice 
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i admit it ive been toying with the idea of making my own gear items im am such a scrounge im pretty good at getting stuff where do you guys get that heavy nylon fabric and how much does it cost? ive seen the thread around where do i get some? but im on a new puter and ALLLLL my bookmarked stuff is gone(fried mother board) edit for im a tad i see the DIY gear link
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Hot damn! That hammock/tarp setup is the tits. Oh, and that plate carrier looks much better than my issued body armor (damn $200 Galls GSA special). |
I get a lot of stuff from DIY Tactical. They're like a one-stop shop, and have great service. I've placed a lot of orders with them and they have always shipped next day. Link: DIY Tactical I've also gotten some stuff--primarily fabric--from Rocky Woods. They are also good to go. The only downside for me personally is that they're halfway across the country and it usually takes 4-5 days to get my order. It's not their fault, just the way things are. But their service is great, also. They don't have just military-type stuff; but also hiking-type stuff. And their prices are GREAT! Link: Rocky Woods Gerald Schwartz & Co is great. They have the best prices I've found so far, and they're only about 5 hours away from me, so I get my shipment the next day when I only pay for ground shipping. They've always shipped same day, too--GREAT service. The only downside with them is that you have to buy minimums (an entire roll of webbing, 25 yds of fabric, etc.) If you need an entire roll, you'll save a lot of money over any other vendor out there; but if you don't need a full roll, it's best to go with one of the other companies. Here's a link to their website: Gerald Schwartz You have to email them for prices--they don't list prices on their website. I get my thread either from Gerald Schwartz, or from The Thread Exchange. Link: The Thread Exchange The Thread Exchange has great service, also, and great prices. For military gear, you want to use at least a #69 thread with a #18 needle. Mil-spec for thread is Nylon Bonded. Hope it helps. |