First Stuff Sack

[cosmicmiami]

Well it isn't really my first. I did a small stake bag for practice and played around yesterday with a couple things I can use at work.

I wanted to make this one 10"x21". That's Sgt. Rock's size for his food bag so I figured I would start there and adjust as needed. I followed the directions at thru-hiker.com. Ran the calculations twice and came up with a 32x28 piece of fabric. Well I'm not sure what went wrong along the way but I ended up with a 15x21 bag. Strange. I folded it along the 32" side to make the bag. If I folded it the other way it would have been too high.

I saw a video the other day of somebody making nylon straps. Folding over a bolt of fabric to make a four layer strap and running two seams through it. I did that with the yellow I had laying around. Prior to running the seams to square the bottom, I slid the premade strap into the bag and aligned it. Had to use two pins as it was very difficult to keep it in the correct position.

Instead of using the foldover method to make the channel I wanted to try the buttonhole method. Works great. Although I don't like running all those stitches in the nylon. Seems like it would weaken it. We'll see how it fares.

[JohnSawyer]

Looks great! I like the yellow strap and envy the nice straight stitching...

One tidbit: I see some fraying on the exposed cut edge of fabric. If this isn't silnylon, you'll eventually have a mess of fibers to cleanup.

My nicest stuff-sack came from AHE where Paul made each seam a rolled-hem so no cut edges were exposed.

I've always been too lazy for that, so I either hot-cut, or heat-seal the cut edges of the fabric.

Nice job! What's next? Hammock? Tarp?

[Lonely Raven]

That looks very well done!

It looks like you chose to use very small stitch spacing...I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it was suggested to me to use longer stitch spacing so I don't wind up making a perforation that would let the bag tear open easy.

Maybe Rev can chime in on that.

[cosmicmiami]

One tidbit: I see some fraying on the exposed cut edge of fabric. If this isn't silnylon, you'll eventually have a mess of fibers to cleanup.

I'll candle it after it is done curing from the silicone treatment.

My nicest stuff-sack came from AHE where Paul made each seam a rolled-hem so no cut edges were exposed.

I'm not quite that caliber yet.

That looks very well done!
It looks like you chose to use very small stitch spacing...I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it was suggested to me to use longer stitch spacing so I don't making a perforation that would let the bag tear open easy.

I thought the stitching may have been to long. Actually, there are two stitch lengths. I thought they might be too long and shortened. It's just a food bag so the seams won't be getting a lot of stress, at least not like a stuff sack.

[Ramblinrev]

Your finished size is within reason. 32/2=16 so when you deduct the seam allowance you get ~15"

28- seam allowances can easily run to close to 21. You've got some good sized hems there. So your bag is about what I would expect. Good job.

Stitch length should be in 2.5-3.5 mm or 7-8 stitches/in. However there are plenty of times when those lengths can a should be changed. You want a very close, narrow zigzag for the button hole. You are not going to do major damage to the sack with the button hole, But here is something to be aware of... When you stitch your buttonhole make sure you change the stitch length back to the normal before doing other seams.

[cosmicmiami]

Your finished size is within reason. 32/2=16 so when you deduct the seam allowance you get ~15"

It seemed large when I calculated. Note to self for the future.

You've got some good sized hems there. So your bag is about what I would expect. Good job.

Well I'm not quite the seams....uh....gear maker yet. It was Brawny03 on youtube that nails a crazy rolled hem.

Stitch length should be in 2.5-3.5 mm or 7-8 stitches/in. However there are plenty of times when those lengths can a should be changed. You want a very close, narrow zigzag for the button hole. You are not going to do major damage to the sack with the button hole, But here is something to be aware of... When you stitch your buttonhole make sure you change the stitch length back to the normal before doing other seams.

Great references for stitch lengths. Thanks.

[cosmicmiami]

You've got some good sized hems there.

I could have cheated and trimmed them prior to the photos but that would have been deceptive.

[cosmicmiami]

Your finished size is within reason. 32/2=16 so when you deduct the seam allowance you get ~15"

28- seam allowances can easily run to close to 21. You've got some good sized hems there. So your bag is about what I would expect. Good job.

The calculations are correct. In fact, they are dead on. I was measuring the bag flat instead of the diameter. Sorry, it's been a few years since I had geometry. Tough to tell the difference between a square and a circle when you get old!!

[Ramblinrev]

I could have cheated and trimmed them prior to the photos but that would have been deceptive.

You misunderstand.... The drawcord of a stuff sack _requires_ some pretty good sized hems. I was pointing to a reality not a fault. Good job.

[cosmicmiami]

Oh no I got it rev. Not a problem. Did not think you were pointing out fault at all. Hey, I'm a fireman, you gotta bring your A-game before I get offended!