MYOG – make your own gear

In leu of finding someone to work with here in my studio in Umeå (northern Sweden) – basically a partner to design and develop outdoor gear. I have taken it upon myself to at least learn the trade and what is needed. I am certainly no expert and my sewing skills are absolutely minimal. But I am enjoying the process and certainly learning a lot along the way. This is my philosophy in life to be honest: Do something new – try something you will suck at. That’s me, at this moment and I’m happy as a clam! 

So, like I always do, it’s just my own method of working, I buy minimal gear. Or rather what I think I might need, use it, and add more. Now my economy means I can’t buy the best, but I certainly don’t have to use garbage. I started by borrowing a simple Durkopp 211-5 straight seam sewing machine that I oiled up and repaired. Total cost about 30USD.

Then I bought a Pfaff 142 two needle sewing machine. Which I knew I would need for studier stitching, fell seams and so on. (Can be done on a single needle machine, but I love the look of the double needle stitch). Total cost 650usd. Borrowed a Bernina 1008 home sewing machine from my wife. Total cost 0usd. And built a proper cutting table that is about 250cm long by 160cm wide – supported by 3 Ikea Kallax bookcases – Total cost: 140USD. 

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Then I started to use everything and realized real quick that cutting lightweight material is a bitch. I started with a high quality roller cutter. Works nice until it doesn’t – it’s easy to cut the material wrong. Or the roller to kind of do it’s own thing if not fully focused. Then I tried scissors and an electric knife. All of these sucked. I read a post online from a guy who suggested a hot knife. I don’t have a hot knife and was too eager to get started to wait a month to get one from China. So I bought a soldering gun instead – works amazing! I don’t have to use pressure on the material which means my cuts are nearly perfect every time! Cost of soldering iron: 15USD.

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Of course I need other materials and so on, rulers, scissors, oil, etc.. all in all about 120usd for this. All in all my little sewing studio here minus sewing textiles and materials is around 955usd. Which considering that is three sewing machines, all cutting tools, a nice sized cutting table and all in all a very comfortable working environment: I can deal with the outlay. 

I like having a working environment where I can go from one task to another without having to stop because I am missing something, or I have to rearrange one thing or another. I like getting into the flow of a process and this studio allows that for me. And within a few days I am starting to produce gear that I find useful and is fun to make. Along the way I am changing how the room is organized, I am moving furniture around and re-thinking certain areas. But that is the whole point: A rough draft studio that I can work in and change depending on efficiencies and knowledge. I won’t know everything I need from the very beginning without ever sewing so much as a ditty bag. So I keep things to a minimum and improve or upgrade as my skill and knowledge increases. 

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My guess is that when I find someone that wants to come here and sew stuff, they will want to change the room around completely. Which is what I expect. Anyway, this was just a little intro into my MYOG studio here in Umeå, my next posts will be regarding the stuff I am actually sewing!