Aye Up All,
With the brown season coming up my spare midlayer fleece will soon be swapped over for a PCS thermal softie. That reminded me of a project that I had carried out the year before last as winter loomed.
Anyone who has tried to home wash and dry one of the Czech surplus (officers?) sleeping bags will know the issues the kapok type rag-wool filling doesnt make it easy, well not for me anyway. Although a bit bulky to man pack, the bag was good in (3 season) use, 4 at a push with a bivvy bag but I just tired of the cleaning probs so I retired it. These bags have a good physical feel to them (well made and sturdy) and so not wishing to just trash it I decided to try and recycle it. The result (after about two weeks) of cutting, cannibalising, hand and machine sewing is the body warmer shown in the images.
The task was fairly straight forward in a nutshell, lay the bag flat, sew up the sides to the correct width, cut out some arm holes and add trim to the exposed edges, cut down the centre, add a zip, make and add the collar, sew on the hood that was originally part of the bag, make some slash pockets and then add studs, zips and snap buckles where appropriate.
In use and body hugging, the garment has an even better feel to it than when it was used as a doss bag, I have to admit more so than the light weight softie jacket, probably again due to that denser filling. The only reason that it loses out to the softie in my trekking rucksack is due to the pack-size but as a vehicle borne/base camp garment its a great substitute and cheap and brings the satisfaction of MYOG! I hope this gives some food for thought before you ditch a (perhaps damaged?) sleeping bag.
The sewing was mostly done on a Janome J18-12 lightweight machine and by hand (Thread - Guetermann upholstery thread 676). The bag had originally cost me £26.
PS there was stacks of material left for other projects - i.e. a pair of tent/sleeping bag boots!
With the brown season coming up my spare midlayer fleece will soon be swapped over for a PCS thermal softie. That reminded me of a project that I had carried out the year before last as winter loomed.
Anyone who has tried to home wash and dry one of the Czech surplus (officers?) sleeping bags will know the issues the kapok type rag-wool filling doesnt make it easy, well not for me anyway. Although a bit bulky to man pack, the bag was good in (3 season) use, 4 at a push with a bivvy bag but I just tired of the cleaning probs so I retired it. These bags have a good physical feel to them (well made and sturdy) and so not wishing to just trash it I decided to try and recycle it. The result (after about two weeks) of cutting, cannibalising, hand and machine sewing is the body warmer shown in the images.
The task was fairly straight forward in a nutshell, lay the bag flat, sew up the sides to the correct width, cut out some arm holes and add trim to the exposed edges, cut down the centre, add a zip, make and add the collar, sew on the hood that was originally part of the bag, make some slash pockets and then add studs, zips and snap buckles where appropriate.
In use and body hugging, the garment has an even better feel to it than when it was used as a doss bag, I have to admit more so than the light weight softie jacket, probably again due to that denser filling. The only reason that it loses out to the softie in my trekking rucksack is due to the pack-size but as a vehicle borne/base camp garment its a great substitute and cheap and brings the satisfaction of MYOG! I hope this gives some food for thought before you ditch a (perhaps damaged?) sleeping bag.
The sewing was mostly done on a Janome J18-12 lightweight machine and by hand (Thread - Guetermann upholstery thread 676). The bag had originally cost me £26.
PS there was stacks of material left for other projects - i.e. a pair of tent/sleeping bag boots!
