Perkolady
10-04-2002, 08:51
I just thought I'd share about the sleeping bag modifications I made this week.
I wanted to remove the hood, and shorten the bag in general as well.
The first step for me , was gathering the courage to use the scissors ! <*YIKES!*>:eek:
I began on my old Carabou Base Camp mummy bag.It's a "well-loved" bag and i figured it would be the one i could risk the 'oopsies' on, should they occur.
I'm only 5' tall, so... not only did i want to remove my useless hood
(being a side/tummy sleeper), but i could do without some of the length in general (the bag was originally for someone up to 6'1")
After determining the length i wanted to end up with, I simply stitched across where the top edge would be, using Mettler's polyester thread. After this step,
I then cut approx. 3/8" from the seam.
Next, I removed the drawstring sleeve from the top of the bag/hood by cutting it right up to the edges of where it was added -(mine was about an inch wide to begin with, so I still had plenty of width to work with).
Then, I sort of 'tucked' the raw seam edge down into the bag, and added the sleeve down into the tuck as well, pinned and then sewed it all very close to the edge.-I hope this makes sense:confused:
I left both ends of the sleeve open, and after threading thru a new piece of
drawsting (1/2" grossgrain ribbon) , I then sewed the one end and closed it to keep the drawstring stationary , and added a mini-cordlock at the other end.
My old bag is now 11 oz. lighter and stuffs smaller !:D
.... Now this sparked my confidence level.
So, I decided to modify my OLD NF Chrysalis down bag as well.
I was 'aiming' for something similar to Hungry Howie's 'Down Quilt".
This bag unzips all the way, converting to somewhat of a quilt anyway, so I just shifted the down all towards the middle of the quilt as best I could (no easy feat ! LOL)
Then , I basically stitched around the perimeter of the bag, making it narrower and shorter (and removing the zipper in the process).
I then removed the parts outside the stitching (vowing next time to do the cutting OUTSIDE ! :eek: - (o well, the cats had a great time !lol)
Next, I joined the side edges from the bottom-up 18" and then made the "foot box" area last.
This really didn't take very long, and my down quilt weighs
1-lb.,7oz. now- a welcome weight indeed !
The hardest part of this project was (and still IS) keeping the down under control after you cut ! lol
I can't wait to try out my bag and my 'quilt' now !
.... next , gonna go ahead and remove the daughters' hoods-
thankfully, their bags are synthetic fill !
Hope this helps someone out there !
Happy gear making and modifying!
Perkolady :)
I wanted to remove the hood, and shorten the bag in general as well.
The first step for me , was gathering the courage to use the scissors ! <*YIKES!*>:eek:
I began on my old Carabou Base Camp mummy bag.It's a "well-loved" bag and i figured it would be the one i could risk the 'oopsies' on, should they occur.
I'm only 5' tall, so... not only did i want to remove my useless hood
(being a side/tummy sleeper), but i could do without some of the length in general (the bag was originally for someone up to 6'1")
After determining the length i wanted to end up with, I simply stitched across where the top edge would be, using Mettler's polyester thread. After this step,
I then cut approx. 3/8" from the seam.
Next, I removed the drawstring sleeve from the top of the bag/hood by cutting it right up to the edges of where it was added -(mine was about an inch wide to begin with, so I still had plenty of width to work with).
Then, I sort of 'tucked' the raw seam edge down into the bag, and added the sleeve down into the tuck as well, pinned and then sewed it all very close to the edge.-I hope this makes sense:confused:
I left both ends of the sleeve open, and after threading thru a new piece of
drawsting (1/2" grossgrain ribbon) , I then sewed the one end and closed it to keep the drawstring stationary , and added a mini-cordlock at the other end.
My old bag is now 11 oz. lighter and stuffs smaller !:D
.... Now this sparked my confidence level.
So, I decided to modify my OLD NF Chrysalis down bag as well.
I was 'aiming' for something similar to Hungry Howie's 'Down Quilt".
This bag unzips all the way, converting to somewhat of a quilt anyway, so I just shifted the down all towards the middle of the quilt as best I could (no easy feat ! LOL)
Then , I basically stitched around the perimeter of the bag, making it narrower and shorter (and removing the zipper in the process).
I then removed the parts outside the stitching (vowing next time to do the cutting OUTSIDE ! :eek: - (o well, the cats had a great time !lol)
Next, I joined the side edges from the bottom-up 18" and then made the "foot box" area last.
This really didn't take very long, and my down quilt weighs
1-lb.,7oz. now- a welcome weight indeed !
The hardest part of this project was (and still IS) keeping the down under control after you cut ! lol
I can't wait to try out my bag and my 'quilt' now !
.... next , gonna go ahead and remove the daughters' hoods-
thankfully, their bags are synthetic fill !
Hope this helps someone out there !
Happy gear making and modifying!
Perkolady :)