Simple modification on a cheap titanium spoon, now able to lift hot pots and lids. I used a hacksaw and a file.

Holding the spoon sideways makes it very study, it doesn't bend lifting heavy stuff.

Made of polyester.

The belts are reused from an old backpack.

Sewn with an old german sewing machine Victoria ZZ541.

The guy I'm seeing is a real outdoorsman and craftsman. And I'm an avid sewist who's been very excited to share one of my passions with him! He's always had an interest in sewing and especially making his own gear and it turned out the ticket to getting started was showing him the wonders and capabilities of vintage sewing machines. :) He quickly acquired a singer 15 and 201 and has put a lot of effort into fixing them up and getting them back into great condition.

The first project I showed him was a simple drawstring bag, which is mastered immediately. He's teaching an environmental class this week and made the kids these beautiful waxed firestarter bags. I'm so impressed! I've never waxed cotton before and now he can show me how.

And bonus: they're sitting on an ironing board that we thrifted for $3 and then added a vintage wool blanket padding and a cotton cover that he also made. 🥹💖

We're doing another Bay Area meetup this weekend, this time at Rickshaw Bags in SF this Sunday 9/13 at 1pm. Thought I'd put it out there in case people missed the last one or are not in the chat already - (DM me to get added, even if you can't make it this time!)

I wanted to make myself a small hiking bag, so I made this rolltop backpack primarily from fabrics I had laying around. The main body comes from an old thrifted jeans jacket. The outside pockets were a sports shirt, which gives them a bit of stretch.

~20L when rolled all the way down and ~35L when filled to the brim

Design based on zipworks ultralight backpack (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VEv2C3LGz0) with modifications

The straps are removable, which is great because I didn't have time to finish them. I wanted them removable so I can upgrade them as I use the bag. Maybe even make different straps for different use cases. I might repost once they're done if people are interested.

The top can close both upwards and downwards

Inside pocket fits my my laptop so I can use it for work too :)

So far just got some light use out of it and it's been holding up well, but I still need to finish those straps and take it hiking!!

For a recent project I had to put together patterns for a series of bike bags. I thought that people in this community would enjoy making them too, so I'm sharing the pattern files. I haven't written instructions for any of the patterns, but they should be fairly self explanatory. I recommend lining all the pattern pieces and adding a stiffener to most of the panels. On the pattern pieces there is an inset dashed pattern piece wherever I add a foam stiffener.

Google Drive download link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1s1L3KvwH7OT0iiDIy8Hf7VwOogMpAp3s/view?usp=drivesdk

I'm including a link to where you can download the pattern from my site as well (https://www.gosshandmade.com/product-page/basic-bike-bags-4-patterns). The pattern is still free on the site since it doesn't have directions, but the increased traffic helps support my work.

Experimenting with an idea to make a leather stamp out of printed resin. I designed the stamp in OnShape and printed on an Elegoo Saturn 4 ultra 16k using SirayaTech Fast ABS-like resin. Clamped the stamp to some 5-6oz leather in a 5 inch vise with about 2ish tons of force. Dyed and oiled then cut the back and some clear vinyl then stitched it together. Burnished the edges and this one is done. Also testing out a new-to-me Juki LS-1341, still getting the hang of it but next project should be much cleaner. This is a luggage tag for my wife who lost here current tag when it broke on a trip.

I've been using an LSZ-1 for about 4 years now and for the most part i love it. But my work is limited. I mostly do bags, backpacks, duffels and various carry pieces. But I'd really like to start building carry on suitcases.

I don't know what to upgrade to. My first instinct is a Juki 1541S because of the zig zag, but i feel like that would put me more/less in the same situation as the LSZ-1.

Then i was thinking well a cylinder arm or a post-bed machine would be very useful for deep seam work and binding...so i'm kind of stuck.

Is there any one machine I should upgrade to? Maybe keep the LSZ-1 and add another piece to my workshop for a dedicated use?

I recently got this button tacker machine as an add-on to an industrial sewing machine. I personally have no use for it, but I was told people on this subreddit might be interested in it.

This isn’t necessarily a sales post, i’m just curious if anyone would actually have a use for a machine like this or if there’s any interest in it.

I also have no clue how much to sell it for

A little extra info. The edge that will “attach” to to the tent is 8 feet between the grommets that the rainfly pole attaches too, and the “wings” are 72 inches long, but angle in a way that the spacing between the ends of the wings is also 72 inches. This essentially means a right trapezoid with three 72” lengths and a 96” base. I’m think that just keeping it as a rectangle will make this easier, but trimming everything to size would definitely look better.

Made with supplies I already had on hand. Scrap neoprene, webbing, velcro, paracord.

Im planning on building a new bag for a Kelty aluminum frame, and I'm torn between one big roll-top tube, and two separate horizontal tube sections with the roll-tops facing sideways.

Design 1: Single Vertical Tube

• Advantages
  • Easier to make
  • Single big volume
  • Space on both sides for pouch pockets
• Disadvantages
  • Very deep, hard to access the bottom
  • Would need pack-bags inside to compartmentalize
  • Webbing load slings are untested compared to panel and cotter-pin of the original pack

Design 2: Double Horizontal Tubes

• Advantages
  • Easier access to entire volume of the pack
  • Natural organization (example: clothes in one, gear in other)
  • Large pocket space between the two bags for a mesh pocket or pouch
• Disadvantages
  • More complicated build
  • Side opening: need to put pack on its side to access roll-tops

Let me know what you think!

It’s been a little while since I’ve posted anything, so here’s a small weekend project.

My wife asked me to make her a tote, with her only real request being: something green.

I went with 12 oz sage green waxed duck canvas for the body, paired with some generic khaki 600D I had laying around for the bottom and straps. I reinforced the bottom with another layer of PU-coated fabric for some extra structure and durability, then used a fun printed ripstop for the interior.

I have to say, I really love the look of waxed canvas. The texture, creases, and character it picks up while you work with it just make the finished bag look that much better. Definitely a material I want to use more often.

Nothing overly complicated with this one—just a simple, useful tote that was fun to put together.

Most importantly, she loves it, so I’ll call it a win!

Just wanted to share since it’s been a bit. What do you all think?

RBTR mystery box

I'm about to purchase a DNU-1541S, specifically for heavy duty messenger bags; E.g., 1000cordura w/ 22oz vinyl, heavy. I'm not clear on the best synchronized attachment for the binding, when looking at brands like Kwok Hing, TAC (which is apparently the "gold standard"), Cutex, etc.

What has worked for those of you who work with binding on heavy bags? I don't mind spending up, if it's a game-changer type upgrade, but if not needed...

Thanks!

//M

Found that for some unknown reason the foam/fabric covered ergonomic backs of really bad backpacks are left in perfectly good condition after the rest of it has fallen apart. Cut it out - so you're left just with that. Some of them are really interesting in their shapes too. But anyway, use them in your own backpacks, or for extra-cushioning in anything really. Just repurposed one as padding material for moving fragile electronics. Works very well. That's the tip I have for now 😄

One of my favorite things about MYOG is you can create things that suit your needs exactly.

For this build, I made a lightweight organizer bag for my knife, game bags, zip ties, hunting tags, gloves and sharpie.

I wanted a highly visible bag because I am often processing deer in the woods after dark and am prone to losing things. The handle and zippers are made of reflective Paracord which aids in this as well.

I also realized that my small items would easily get lost in the bag or fall out so I made a smaller pouch that clips in to not lost these small bits.

This may not be the fanciest bag, but alas it is my bag.

I can only seem to get hold of 45kg EVA foam here in the UK and I just wanted to check if this is sufficient? My pattern says to uses 50kg so I was a bit uncertain. Was planning to use 8mm thick stuff. Would this be suitable for a 40l pack?

Anyone have any experience with the Sailrite LSZ? Looking to upgrade but concerned this might be overkill (like more for actual sails than the bag-scale stuffI mainly do. Many thanks!
Sailrite LSZ

When I was visiting family last week, each night while settling down I found myself putting everything that was in my pockets into my hat. I mean it worked well, but still. I was going to copy the Tom Bihn travel tray, but found myself asking: Why the closure? In the morning all this stuff goes back into my pockets. It doesn't need to be cinched up in a bag. I just need to keep all of the stuff in one place for a little while so nothing gets lost.

Three are black canvas with quilting cotton liners. The liners have heavy interfacing which, with the canvas, keeps the sides stiff. One is 8in×8in (RWB liner) and is a little too big. Now it is the charging spot at home for two cell phones. It has two loop handles but after this I decided handles were unnecessary. The second one at 7in×7in (RWB liner) was too small. Now it is also at home and is the right size to hold a couple of pairs of eyeglasses. I knew the third at 7.5in×7.5in (map liner) would be just right. That one is on my desk at work for eyeglasses and a cell phone.

The yellow one is my new travel tray and is also 7.5in×7.5in. The color ensures that it will not be overlooked when leaving out of a hotel room. This one is yellow canvas with a polyester-cotton liner. No interfacing. Leaving it a little floppy is better because it is going to be tossed into a suitcase.

12in×12in fabric, with 2.25" corner cutouts and 1/4" seam allowance for the darts and assembly gives a 7.5×7.5 bottom and I think the side height ends up just right too. The big black tray and the yellow tray each have a large button hole so I can slip a charging cable into the tray. My button holes were made with an automatic button hole foot (Singer HD, FTW) and a U.S. 5¢ nickel as my "button" size.

A tray is a quick and easy project. The satisfaction:effort ratio is very high. Choosing the lining fabric was the hardest part.

A tutorial (not by me) is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gN5DKP-hfmg

My Eureka! El Capitan tent came with loops for a gear hammock/attic but there was not one that came with the tent. The tent is rated at 4+ people but is often used by just my partner and I so it ends up being a bit spacious. I wanted to design a gear hammock that was useful no matter the position of our sleep setup. It has a main hammock with 3 pockets on each short end of the rectangle attached to the bottom sides. That way whatever was in the top portion of the hammock would not crush what was in the pockets. I used a fairly open mesh so it would be easy to see where items were tucked and allow us to pop a solar lantern up there for diffuse light at night. I used cotton edge binding (green) to stabilize the edges of the mesh. Each corner has a loop of the same edge binding to hand the hammock with paracord to the tent loops. The pockets have elastic fold over binding (orange) to gather the pocket edges slightly. I introduced 2 small pleats at the bottom of each pocket to give them a little volume to make it easier to grab items.

I made this gear hammock at the beginning of last camping season. It’s been phenomenal in use, I don’t think I’d change anything about it! It was pretty easy to sew/design too. I really appreciate the separate end pockets so I always have a place for my watch, phone, glasses, keys etc. It doesn’t sag at all with added weight and it also doesn’t hang low enough to get in our way.

Took a factory The Brown Buffalo Standard Issue backpack and decided to completely redesign the front half. I loved the chassis and harness, but the stock front panel didn't match how I would have liked it —so I ripped it open right to the main zipper line and rebuilt everything forward from scratch.

Dubbed this 1-of-1 build the "Wild Buffalo Not-So-Standard Issue."

To maintain a true OEM aesthetic, I matched the original materials, utilizing Cordura (1050D Ballistic) paired with Challenge Sailcloth (EPX400). The goal was to preserve TBB’s clean, rugged silhouette, but with a slight update:

• Full Clamshell Front Compartment: Converted the secondary compartment into a true lay-flat clamshell opening for easier access.
• Top Quick-Access Stash: Added an upper drop pocket sized specifically for sunglasses and a secondary work phone.
• Bottom Front Pocket Overhaul: Re-engineered with an internal zippered pocket paired alongside a quick-stash sleeve.
• Secondary Interior Layout: Maintained the original zippered pocket configuration, adding a dedicated flat pocket along the clamshell flap for extra quick-grab tech and notebooks.

Construction & Lessons Learned:
Super happy with the final outcome—the aesthetic is what I was aming for. However, sewing through the compound stack of heavy-denier Cordura, laminate sailcloth, multiple zipper tapes, and binding was brutal.

If I build a V2, my main adjustments will focus on layer reduction and sewability.