The Light Stuff

One of the most liberating suggestions in Ray Jardine's Beyond Backpacking is his encouragement to learn to use a sewing machine. Then you can make very simple gear, out of the lightest, functional fabrics, sized and cut to fit you, with only the details and doodads that you want. I have an additonal incentive: I have a hard time finding highly functional outdoor clothes that fit me, because I am so small. Let's just say that Child's Large often fits me better than Women's Small. The ready-to-wear clothes with the really good new fabrics and ideas seem to appear first only in men's sizes. Luckily, those new fabrics do appear quite quickly for sale at the outdoor fabric stores listed below.

Starting out

Buy a decent machine or borrow your Mom's.

Take lessons. The local fabric stores offer them.

Get a good sewing book to help you remember those lessons. My sister gave me: Complete Guide to Sewing by The Reader's Digest Association (Canada) (Montreal, 1995).

Fabric and patterns

The local fabric store does not sell what you need.

Check out:

The Rain Shed, Inc.
707 NW 11th
Corvallis, OR 97330 541-753-8900
The catalogue has patterns and fabrics--fleeces, cordura nylons, insulation, webbing, etc. It also has a section of tips for the beginner--how to attach webbing to hardware, how to install an elastic waistband. Great!

Outdoor Wilderness Fabrics, Inc.
16415 Midland Blvd
Nampa, Idaho 83687
208-466-1602
http://www.owfinc.com
Very useful Web site. They sell the 1.1 ounce/yard silicone impregnated nylon that I use a lot. It seems to be the lightest, completely waterproof fabric available now.

Quest Outfitters
619 Cattlemen Road
Sarasota, FL 34232
800-359-6931

Useful books for utter beginners

Learn to Sew by Kids Can Sew & Craft (St. George, Utah, 1993)
See http://www.kidscansew.com I got the one for children age 6-10 for my daughter and myself. It was good to work through the book before taking my lessons. It gives practice in sewing in a straight line and then curved lines. Did I mention that I am very obtuse in the domestic arts?

Kwik-Sew pattern books
3000 Washington Ave. North
Minneapolis, MN 55411-1699
A cheap way to get a lot of simple patterns. I am still working up my nerve to sew in a zipper, so simple is what I love.

Adventures with Polarfleece by Nancy Cornwell (krause publications, Iola, Wisconsin: 1997)
What kind of needle? How many stitches per inch? All the basics, very practical.

(c)Rhona Mahony, 2002: rmahony@stanford.edu