Sewing Tutorials to Make Your Own Gear (MYOG)!
Our sewing guides aim to be the definitive guides for starting out making your own outdoor gear, from total beginner to expert. Detailed, beginner friendly instructions and patterns. No confusing abbreviations, all techniques explained, and explanations of why choices are made. You will finish a Prickly Gorse/MYOG Tutorials project with a greater understanding, as well as an awesome new bag!
Each guide comes with a free 25 page beginners sewing guide, very detailed instructions tailored to both home and industrial sewing machines, a shopping list, and a printable pattern to give you the best head start on your projects.
All my digital downloads, free and paid, are hosted at www.payhip.com/pricklygorse to save bandwidth. Paid guides are also available at https://pricklygorse.etsy.com
If you add your email on payhip I can send notifications of any updates to the guides, but you can just put any fake email in to get the download link!
Prices may include Digital VAT if applicable in your country
Backpacking / Hiking / EDC
Bikepacking / Cycling / Commuting
Climbing
Other Sports
Sewing Tools
Other Useful Ideas
Groundsheets
Tyvek is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to make a groundsheet for your tent, UL picnic sheet. You can also make tarps if you reinforce the grommets with duct tape or tyvek tape
Can be found by the metre on eBay and some ultralight / backpacking / bikepacking websites. It doesn’t fray, so you can simply cut to shape. Tyvek tape can be used to reinforce areas if you want eyelets, but this tape can be a bit trickier to find in small quantities.
Alcohol Stove
Simply put 2 rows of holes around the top of a cleaned out small cat food tin, to make the ‘Super Cat’. Or cut open the bottom, make a inch or so wide hole in the bottom, and some holes around the top to make a chimney/side burner stove. Can use a hole punch (right side image example), or one of those punches you hammer into things (middle), or a knife to make the holes.
Burns hot, blooms (heats up ready to cook) fast, slightly dangerous, can’t be easily extinguished, great fun
Ultralight Towel
Bear with me on this. Those colourful cellulose sponge sheets in the cleaning aisle make surprisingly good towel alternatives. Incredibly absorbent, and also amazing for wiping condensation from your tent. Make sure to thoroughly wash any soap and cleaning stuff out of them first.
Waterproof Shoe Liners
Bread bags, thats it. I don’t carry camp shoes or use waterproof shoes. Instead when I’m at camp I put on my dry camp socks, and if I need to pop out the tent for whatever reason I put on a pair of bread bags to keep my socks dry and cozy.
No-Sew Cinch/Compression Straps
Super easy way to make straps when you don’t have access to a sewing machine. Simply use a triglide buckle on one end to make a loop (when using G hooks) or a hoop that holds the female buckle end (side release buckles), then add your adjustable buckle to the other end. As long as your webbing isn’t too thin, and it rarely is, the triglide will hold firm and you’ll have a solid strap.