[pct-l] Sewing Silnylon

[dsaufley at sprynet.com (dsaufley)]

Along the same lines as the binder clips, waaaaay back in home economics
(when they actually taught such things in school) they had us use straight
pins to hold the fabric together, and then sew right over them.  I still do
that today, on those rare occasions when I have time to sew.

L-Rod

-----Original Message-----
From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net
[mailto:pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Eric Lee (GAMES)
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 6:41 PM
To: Mike Saenz; pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
Subject: RE: [pct-l] Sewing Silnylon

Mike wrote:
>
I have a silnylon pack cover that needs to be "brought-in" to better fit
my pack. I have access to a simple sewing machine, though I've never
used one before.
Are there any seams which are better suited for silnylon? Thread?
>

Silnylon can be very aggravating to sew precisely because it's so
slippery.  It doesn't stay where you put it and by the time you run it
under the presser foot of the sewing machine, it's escaped and tricked
you into punching a bunch of little perforations into material that you
wanted to be watertight.  Grrrrr.

If you're just tightening up a pack cover it might not matter that much
exactly where the seam ends up.  If you're trying to do precise work
like for stuff sacks or a tarp or something, then two tricks I've found
helpful are to a) iron the folds into felled seams before sewing them,
and b) use office binder clips (the metal triangle-shaped ones with the
little levers you squeeze to open them) to hold the layers of material
where you want it as you feed it through.

Eric
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