DIY Gear, I Made a Quilt!

Ever sit around thinking about outdoor gear (that’s about all we do) and go hey “I have an idea”… Well we have those moments too. I would say we have hundreds of them a day and often times you might even send those ideas to manufactures and then wonder why they don’t respond. Well there is a ton of reasons why they might not but one of them is research and developing gear isn’t easy and it takes time and money. The reason I’m starting off the blog post like this is we are constantly looking for the best gear of in some cases trying to develop our own. I learned a long time ago that if you want to do something having an idea of what you are doing isn’t a bad idea ha-ha.  So we have picked up sewing…

Now Do It Yourself (DIY) gear isn’t as cheap or easy as you might think, after all you need all the DIY tools up front so you are either buying, borrowing or renting (all of which have their ups and downs). The upside is one night a few years ago when Amazon should have had a breathalyzer installed I bought a Singer Heavy Duty Sewing machine. So I was ahead of the power curve on that. Thankfully Youtube exists and there is a lot of great info there for us amateur seamstresses. But I will say that staring out can be a little scary and a pain in the butt, so websites like the Green Pepper with their patterns or Ripstop by the Roll with their kits. In this blog we are talking about the Ripstop by the Roll front country quilt. This is a great kit to cut your teeth on the ordering is simple with a huge selection of materials and insulation.  Essentially when you order this kit you are getting all the material you need to complete the project with a little left over as well.

I found the directions which were simple enough since this thing is essentially put together like a giant pillow case. I started by clearing out space on my floor and tapped down the first piece of fabric with masking tape and measured and cut accordingly. The large tile floor and masking tape really helped to get the best cut I could and then lay out the next piece so I could cut and pin the two outer layers of fabric together.

After sewing the outer layers together I measured and cut the insulation which was a bit of a task which it was my first time dealing with insulation and it was a bit cumbersome but I soon had it pinned to the fabric. The sewing was also a learning experience (face the insulation down when sewing). Once it was all sewed on I had to pull it all right side out through the hole in the end we left when we initially sewed the two outer pieces together. That was both a little difficult and fun especially being that close to being done.

After sewing the end hole close I had my first completed front country quilt! It was pretty cool knowing that I had made it but I also learned some things along the way. First off this took me like four hours of a Saturday afternoon so if time is an issue, buy one. For the amazing people out there making quality outdoor gear I salute you! Second, making gear is awesome, repeatedly making quality, durable gear is amazing (at least form my non sewing point of view). Third, seem Ripper buy a couple good seem rippers they are the eraser of the sewing world and you will need a good one. Making my own quilt was actually a pretty humbling experience and really helped me understand what goes into the products many of the companies we work with manufacture. Trust me buy the Mountain Serape you will be much happier, ha-ha.