I made this pack in kind of a hurry because my old pack was falling apart. Still this is my nicest looking one yet. I only took cell phone photos of the construction.
My sewing is mostly self taught, with very little help from YouTube. I wanted to learn to sew since I was a child but it was always a struggle for one reason or another.
In home economics I tried to make a duffel bag but there was only one teacher 30 students and about 15 sewing machines. I needed one on one instructions and a machine to use at all times. I gave up and did not complete the project. My parents then got mad and made me pay for all the material. My step-mother then sewed the bag and kept it for herself. It still makes me angry.
Why didn't she teach me how to sew the bag and why did she keep it after making me pay for it? Why were they so convinced that I was just slacking off in class? I was trying hard but I had to give up in frustration.
What I did not understand was the box stitch, the teacher told me to just do it and walked off. Even now almost 40 years later I think of all the frustration involved with that bag every time I do a box stitch.
For the first 30 years of my adult life I struggled with a broken sewing machine too. I did not know it was broken. When things went wrong I blamed myself. Sewing always made my cry and get angry. Always. Then one day I saw a YouTube video that showed a machine self feeding the fabric. I thought I was supposed to pull the fabric through myself. All those years I struggled.
Now I have good old heavy duty machine thanks to Sew Now Studio in Shelton. Now sewing is fun. Now when the bobbin needs to be reloaded it is not a problem.
With my old garbage machine even reloading the bobbin was always an hour long ordeal.
Now when I sew, I don't hear my parents mocking me and telling me how awful I am at it. I know better. What a shame it took so many years though.
This time around for pack number 4 I had the self confidence to buy new material to sew with. I knew that I probably would not screw it all up and waste my money. Now I have a pretty pack in my favorite color!
Maybe next time I will buy all new parts and thread for my project too. I used green thread for this project. Green was the only color I had of the right type of thread. I wanted black thread, but I did not want to face Walmart in December just to buy a spool of thread, so I used my old green thread.
Of course I forgot the buy black thread when I was in there grocery shopping. They probably would have been out of the right type of thread anyway. The Walmart in town is terrible at keeping things in stock.
My sewing is mostly self taught, with very little help from YouTube. I wanted to learn to sew since I was a child but it was always a struggle for one reason or another.
In home economics I tried to make a duffel bag but there was only one teacher 30 students and about 15 sewing machines. I needed one on one instructions and a machine to use at all times. I gave up and did not complete the project. My parents then got mad and made me pay for all the material. My step-mother then sewed the bag and kept it for herself. It still makes me angry.
Why didn't she teach me how to sew the bag and why did she keep it after making me pay for it? Why were they so convinced that I was just slacking off in class? I was trying hard but I had to give up in frustration.
What I did not understand was the box stitch, the teacher told me to just do it and walked off. Even now almost 40 years later I think of all the frustration involved with that bag every time I do a box stitch.
For the first 30 years of my adult life I struggled with a broken sewing machine too. I did not know it was broken. When things went wrong I blamed myself. Sewing always made my cry and get angry. Always. Then one day I saw a YouTube video that showed a machine self feeding the fabric. I thought I was supposed to pull the fabric through myself. All those years I struggled.
Now I have good old heavy duty machine thanks to Sew Now Studio in Shelton. Now sewing is fun. Now when the bobbin needs to be reloaded it is not a problem.
With my old garbage machine even reloading the bobbin was always an hour long ordeal.
Now when I sew, I don't hear my parents mocking me and telling me how awful I am at it. I know better. What a shame it took so many years though.
This time around for pack number 4 I had the self confidence to buy new material to sew with. I knew that I probably would not screw it all up and waste my money. Now I have a pretty pack in my favorite color!
Maybe next time I will buy all new parts and thread for my project too. I used green thread for this project. Green was the only color I had of the right type of thread. I wanted black thread, but I did not want to face Walmart in December just to buy a spool of thread, so I used my old green thread.
Of course I forgot the buy black thread when I was in there grocery shopping. They probably would have been out of the right type of thread anyway. The Walmart in town is terrible at keeping things in stock.
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| Front back and side panels cut out |
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| all panels and 4 pockets cut out |
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| Shoulder pad material cut out |
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| Shoulder pads sewn together in a tube (my methods are unconventional since I am self taught) |
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| Panels to hold my sit pad cut out. Panels are made of an old shirt. I used a Jersey needle when I stitched them. I used pink thread that is part cotton on the main spool and kept my green thread on the bobbin. It seemed to work and the green thread only shows through on the bottom where it can't be seen. I hope that the part cotton pink thread will not rot when it gets wet, but why should it? I always dry my pack out after a hike and the thread is part polyester. |
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| front of pack and side panels assembled. Next time I will wait until the panels are sewn together before I bunch up the elastic. I will just leave an opening where the elastic goes. The panels will be easier to stitch together when they are not stretched out of shape so that I have to stretch them back while sewing them. I sure wish I had thought of that years ago. |
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| Back panel pad holder pockets sew into place shoulder straps all assembled Outside of pack is pretty much done and ready to sew together. |
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| Add caption |
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| Front and one side sewn together |
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| Front and sides pinned together with lots of pins due to elastic |
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| Front back and sides sewn together all that is left is to sew the bottom of the straps into the seams and sew the bottom on. I had to re hem the top after sewing it all together because it did not all match up nice at the top. |
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| On the trail the next day for an 8 mile test |
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| Photo of the back of the pack with out the pad in place. I want to get a purple or black pad to match the pack, but not sure where to get one. I would like to have a pink pack but dont' want to advertise my gender. All of the pink on this pack is hidden when I am actually wearing it. |
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