Stuff Sacks

**Just Jeff** · 03-06-2010, 20:02

My first few were made of regular ripstop...not DWR or anything. The ones I put my insulation, clothes and food in are silnylon...mainly for the reason Dutch suggested, but also b/c it's slicker so it's easier to stuff my quilts in.

**MondayHopscotch** · 03-07-2010, 02:31

Originally Posted by vitamaltz

No wrong way to make a stuff sack. It's a good project if you have extra sil sitting around that you trimmed off another project. Or, if you don't want to use the real sil, you could go the "make your own sil" route by coating regular ripstop with silicone.

That's pretty much what I have. Bought 10 yards of sil although i'm only planing on using about 8 of it. So i'll have extra, I just don't know if it will serve me best as stuff sacks. But I suppose not getting things like dirty laundry or food wet is a good thing.

I still have to see how sewing sil goes for me... So I might use some of the extra that i bought to practice on -- But i should still have enough for a stuffsack or two, It's not like they take up a huge amount of fabric.

**Ramblinrev** · 03-07-2010, 07:47

Originally Posted by MondayHopscotch

I still have to see how sewing sil goes for me... So I might use some of the extra that i bought to practice on -- But i should still have enough for a stuffsack or two, It's not like they take up a huge amount of fabric.

Compared to a tarp that is true. But I am always amazed when I do the math to lay out a stuff sack just how much I really do need for that little ditty bag.

My advice... don't practice on your sil. Get some old worn out sheets or take apart that old tent you are never going to use again. IMO sil is too expensive to use for practice fabric. If you want to practice sewing sil then use the pieces you cut from the cat cuts and stitch to your hearts content.

**MondayHopscotch** · 03-07-2010, 12:41

Originally Posted by Ramblinrev

Compared to a tarp that is true. But I am always amazed when I do the math to lay out a stuff sack just how much I really do need for that little ditty bag.

My advice... don't practice on your sil. Get some old worn out sheets or take apart that old tent you are never going to use again. IMO sil is too expensive to use for practice fabric. If you want to practice sewing sil then use the pieces you cut from the cat cuts and stitch to your hearts content.

I don't think I'm going to attempt putting cat cuts on my tarp. I dont trust myself to make the curves nice, haha.

I'll find some fabric to practice on, thanks for stopping me from having an expensive practice session.

Hopefully the horrendous amount of crap I bought last week gets here before the weekend so I can get started on it.

I'll try to post some pictures of all my stuff once it's finished.

**fuzzie** · 03-08-2010, 00:02

Our boy scout troop got new tents...and I thought taking the old tents and rainflys and making either stuff sacks or hammocks might be a way to be thrifty...A scout is, after all, Thrifty.

Anyone have some decent directions for photos for making stuff sacks that I can use to recruit a seamstress with?

**Just Jeff** · 03-08-2010, 00:18

Beyond Backpacking by Ray Jardine has idiot-proof directions. But all you're really doing is sewing a bag with a drawstring. You can probably show your seamstress a stuffsack that you want to make copies of and she could figure it out.

**Ramblinrev** · 03-08-2010, 07:29

Some where in one of my We Don't Sew vids I demonstrate the various tops and bottoms of a stuff sack. Beyond that it is just a tube with a bottom and drawstring top. Any seamstress worth anything should be able to conjure up a pattern with no trouble. The issue would be getting the right size. There are various formulas for doing that floating around the forums. But forget the seamstress.... buy yourself a thread injector and learn the basics. We Don't Sew... We Make Gear....

**MondayHopscotch** · 03-12-2010, 01:55

How do I go about figuring out the general size I would need for a various stuffable item? (Like the tarp i'm making)

I tried seeing how much I could pack it down by hand, but who knows how accurate that will be... it is silnylon after all and that stuff is way to slick.

**ikemouser** · 03-12-2010, 07:07

Cuben is especially good for stuff sacks, assuming you get the strong cuben. Since you dont have to sew seams-tape/glue instead, it has an extra waterproofing ability, and its lighter than everything else. But $$$$