Pack Straps

I have far more packs than I can reasonably justify owning, but I must honestly say that this one is amongst the best. It weighs just 11 oz and I can do a 4 day backpacking trip out of it. The framesheet is the perfect density of HDPE so that it is thin and light but still stiff enough to carry a fairly large load well. Overall, this pack does what it does better than any comparable pack I've ever seen.

All of that praise notwithstanding, this pack was designed with one major flaw. The straps are extremely thin and cut into the shoulders with almost any amount of weight in the pack. I usually just stuff my extra socks/mittens under my shirt to pad it out, but I decided it was time to take my improvement to the next level.

I decided to add some padding to the straps. For the padding I used 1/8" closed cell foam and cut out the shape I wanted the straps to be.

  I doubled up the foam to make a 1/4" sheet and then sewed the pad between two layers of nylon.

I then cut out the pad and singed the edges to keep them from fraying.

Finally, I sewed the pads under the existing straps.

Here's the result. The day after I finished this modification, I got to field test the pack. I had an alpine rack, harness and a full days of layers, food and water and after a tough 12 miles, my shoulders were NOT where I was sore.

Tool Roll

Encouraged by my success on the apron, I embarked upon another sewing project that I've wanted to do for a long time: a tool roll for the bike tools I carry with me every day.

I started with a big flat sheet of mid-weight nylon. This was nice because it would be a fairly durable material, but also because I didn't have to worry about how to finish the edges. I could just singe them with a candle and they would stay together.

Next, I cut out rectangles of fabric a little larger than the tool they would become the pocket for. I folded and sewed the top edge to finish it and then sewed the pocket onto the backing.

Here's the finished product with each tool on it's respective pocket. The pockets are open on top because I have a flap that folds over before I roll it up which keeps everything inside. One thing I found I needed to do to get the flap to stay down was to sew the corners of fold down.

For my spare tube (and a short section of tire to make a patch in case I skid through a tire) I put a little strap with a ladder lock buckle because. As a closure mechanism I found a Velcro wrap that is hook on one side and loop on the other. It's of a very fancy low profile design that doesn't snag or get burred but still sticks very well.

The final touch on the Velcro strap was to sew a little tab of the nylon material to make it easier to peel up.

Apron

This is my exciting debut into a new medium: sewing! I borrowed this cute little sewing machine from a friend for a project that I haven't yet undertaken (you'll get to see it when I finally do) but didn't end up using it until this project. My brother just graduated from college and I wanted to get him something special, but I couldn't think of something good that he would actually use. The idea I eventually came to was that I wanted to pass on my bread-making tradition on to him now that he was going into the wide world and would need to make his own bread. So I decided to get him a pair of bread pans (the fancy silicone ones that I use), make him a recipe book of my bread recipes, and to make him an apron (that's where the sewing comes in). I should add that the day I chose to make the apron, I had a friend visiting who is costume designer and has a fair bit of experience with a sewing machine, so I had good help on my maiden voyage into the land of sewing.

We decided to fold the cloth over to make the apron double layered. This ended up being easier and looking much nicer. Then I cut out the rough shape of the apron (note this is the back face of the fabric so that I can turn it inside out when I'm done).

I sewed around the edge and inserted the straps at the appropriate places (sticking inward of course) and double stitching over them for security. The last thing I had to do was to put on a front pocket. I decided to make this out of terrycloth so that there's a built in towel to wipe off the hands. A few layers of this turned out to be all that the little machine could handle but it eventually made it. After I finished sewing the pocket onto the front of the apron, I proceeded to seal up the side.

And there's the finished product. I chose to put side release buckles on the waist strap rather than leave it as a tie so that it was a little quicker to get on and off. Unfortunately I don't yet own an iron, so the seams were a little puffy, but other than that I felt pretty good about my first sewing project.