Bushwalk Australia

Hi all,

I have added instructions on how I sew square bottom stuff sacks.

http://www.tiergear.com.au/25/square-bottom-stuff-sack

Nice!

As simple as they are, every time I make one I have to spend some time remembering exactly what to do. One thing I never bother with is finishing the edges of the inside material. It frays, but so slowly that it's rarely an issue. The sack in the photos below is for a sleeping bag. It's over seven years old.


I like to add a grab flap at the bottom. It's easy to do (once I remember how to do it).
I think it helps a lot when pulling out a down bag or jacket:




Also a round flap on top is kind of nice:




I once made one with a round bottom, flat felled seams, everything nicely finished and even a metal grommet for where the cord emerged from the sack. It was a gift; I'd never go to that much trouble for myself.

Hey Orion,

7 years is a pretty good run!

Sometimes I add a grosgrain loop at the bottom as a pull handle, I might add that to the blog post. I do a rolled hem to hide the raw edge mainly for strength as when you sew it together you are stitching through 6 layers of fabric instead of 2. As shown by the photo's below the red bag is from another manufacturer, it's a small point but I like to make stuff as strong as possible, but as can be seen from your sack they still last ok.

That makes sense. The seams on mine pull apart kind of like that when heavily loaded. In fact the main seam is slowly tearing the fabric apart. Oh well, seven years and I've only had to patch it a little. It's cheap and easy enough to make a new one... if I could remember how to do it. Now I can look at your instructions to get started.

I was going to make a couple of small Cuben stuff sacks. I was thinking of just taping them together instead of sewing. I hadn't really thought it through though. Would you do it the same way and just substitute tape for stitches? Or would you use a different approach?

I used to just tape the cuben sacks when I was doing them and they seemed reasonably strong. Sewing and then taping would probably be even stronger. There is some evidence that in sub-zero temps the tape loses significant strength so it depends where you are intending to use them.

I wasn't planning on a life support role for either of them.
I was just wondering if you would cut the same pattern or do something different.

Interesting about the Cuben taped seams and temperature. I have thought about taking my Cuben pyramid out in the winter and might have done it last winter if we'd gotten any snow. I wonder if the seams would fall apart at night in the cold? That would be too funny!

Personally I would just tape the cuben stuff sacks - keep it simple and just cut it as per normal. I haven't had any problems or had any reported failures from the one's I sold.

Lawson Kline paid 3M to do some testing I believe, though I have not read any reports of failures in the field.

Thanks for the instruction page Simon.
I was wondering what your intended depth and widths were when you cut the 400mm square piece of material?
Maybe even the finished size of the sack would be handy to start with. thanks, Neil.

Hi Neil,

With the tarp in the stuff sack the dimensions are about 270mm long x 100mm wide or thereabouts.