BrambleStitches

Recently the Man remarked that his lunch cooler was too small. He wanted a single bag that would keep his lunch cold and have enough room to haul a couple other things he needs daily: a dry pair of socks, sunscreen, and a few other small necessities. I seized upon this as an opportunity to put my skills to the test.

We poked around in my fabric, but he decided nothing I had was worthy of a Marine in the field, so he gave me a decommissioned pair of cammie trousers to use.

I’ve built an exhaustive photo tutorial, so you can see just how I did it. Enjoy!

There are two hidden layers of Insul-Brite poly/mylar fabric for insulation, and the lining is water-proof PUL (polyurethane laminate) fabric. There is a layer of Timtex interfacing in the bottom only, since this will be carrying quite a bit of weight. There are no inside pockets, but there are two outside pockets. They’re the original cargo pockets from the pants which have been repositioned. Enjoy the tutorial, and if you make one, please send me a picture!

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Edited 21 June to add:

The Man has been using his new bag for a while now, and initial results are in: The bag works as well as his old (too small) cooler. He has to use two ice packs, but it does keep his food cold enough to eat at 2 pm, even when outdoors or in the car all day in 100-plus degree weather. I call that success!

Life in the Corps, Sewing

The Man’s cammies take a serious beating at work. I don’t know what he does while he’s wearing them, but whatever it is, I think it must involve sandpaper and scissors, because that’s certainly the only way I could get my clothes to look that way.

Today’s damage report wasn’t so bad; just two missing buttons, and some worn through spots on the inseams near the ankles. When Erik reenlisted last year, I bought myself a big ol’ honkin’ spool of thread, because I knew I’d need it (and not just for cammies, either–khaki is the best neutral ever! I use it on everything, especially quilting). Yep, this baby is bigger than your average cone of serger thread, even. Stats: Gutermann (only the best, for me) 5500 yard cone, $16 at SewTrue. While I love my huge cone of thread, it doesn’t actually fit on my
thread post (not even my "large spool" auxiliary post), so I wind two bobbins from it, then use one as my top
thread.

This is what the inseams look like. If you look closely you can see that I’ve already repaired these once before with a zig zag stitch.

Here’s the stitch function I use to mend spots like this. My manual calls it a "darning stitch" but I’ve seen it called "mending stitch" also. There is absolutely nothing special about this stitch, it is just a glorified straight stitch. It stitches forward and backward, only moving the needle position slightly at each reversal to cover a wider area. You could do exactly the same thing with a straight stitch, just stitch forward and reverse, and shift the fabric slightly with each pass.

Here are the repairs.

And lastly, new buttons. I have a bunch of military surplus buttons, but they’re all forest cammy colors. Luckily, it doesn’t matter, because these are totally hidden, and anyway, I’m pretty sure the regs don’t mention anything about what color your buttons are. Besides, if someone is inspecting your fly, they’re way to close, even if it is your superior officer.

Life in the Corps, Mending, Sewing