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Captain Obvious strikes again. After 10 years of making DIY dry bags and etc from heat sealable fabric, and often wishing I had a thicker hem than just two layers of material ironed over together (think dry bag fold over closures, or seating grommets), the solution finally occurred to me.
First, an experiment. Piece of scrap heat sealable Packcloth to iron over together, with an experimental double thick hem. The two narrow strips of material go inside the to-be-ironed area, heat sealable sides facing up and down, so the reinforcing strips on the inside will heat-adhere to the folded over dry bag material.
P1250001 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
That does mean making the hem a little wider, but in some (many) applications, like at the roll over top and bottom corner grommets on DIY dry bags, that isn’t an issue. In this case I’ll iron down a two inch hem; one inch covering the narrow strips of reinforcement material on the inside, one inch beyond those is proven-plenty for a tight and durable edge seal.
To assure that nothing moved or shifted while clamping the fence in place or ironing I put a teeny dab of adhesive on the strips, to hold them aligned exactly in place before commencing to iron. And, to be certain everything was fully heat sealed together on the 4 layer thick hem, I ironed down both sides of the test piece.
With both sides ironed down (and the ironing fence removed clamping a board over the still-hot sealed area for some compression while the material cools doesn’t hurt.
P1260003 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Nice even seal along the fence side, impossible to pull apart, with a thicker, stiffer hem edge.
P1260006 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Well dang, I really like that double (quadrupled) layer of Packcloth thick hem. I had been running 1” Gorilla tape around the open end on DIY dry bags, which helps stiffen the roll over edges and keep them unleaky unwrinkled when fold rolled closed.
P7301064 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
That Gorilla tape reinforcement copied the thick black vinyl stiffener strip on manufactured dry bags
P8021111 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
But Gorilla tape costs money, and there are always excess pieces of heat sealable scrap left over. The doubled thickness hem looks cleaner, and no worries about the Gorilla tape adhesive going gooey under a hot sun (hasn’t happen yet, knock wood)
That is already a success. Let’s see how that 4 layer hem thickness does with seating grommets or snaps.
P1270010 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
Hmmm, the 1” wide inner strips, which are not sealed to each other on the inside, just happen to fit an old Timberline tent pole perfectly.
P1270011 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
That doubled fabric technique would be an easy way to make a pole sleeve at any specific diameter. I am now chagrinned at the dozens of dry bags (and sail and etc) made with heat sealable material without using that doubled fabric trick. For a sleeve I’d use a single piece of heat sealable scrap folded in half, so the outside edge of the sleeve was wrap-around two layers reinforced.
Oh yeah; easy, material inexpensive (actually free, there’s always scrap heat sealable left from template cuts) and a twice as thick, tougher edge. Only took Captain Obvious 10 years and a couple dozen DIY dry bags to figure that out.
That doubled hem would be especially useful with Seattle Fabrics lighter-weight (less expensive) heat sealable materials like 70D Taffeta, 200D Ripstop or 200D Oxford cloth. We used the Oxford for some instrument dry bags, and even in a sea kayak use those are still going strong a hundred trips later.
https://www.seattlefabrics.com/Heat-Sealable-Nylons_c_80.html
Live and learn. I’m jonsing to try that trick on the next heat sealable project. I have a lot of (dark blue) scrap Packcloth. Might have to order a couple yards of lighter weight stuff, in a brighter, more visible color and use the scrap Packcloth for a thicker reinforcing hem.
Maybe red Oxford cloth again, the odd sized scraps, ironed together with a grommet punched through, make easy car topping flags for the canoe overhang.
P9250012 by Mike McCrea, on Flickr
I need a few more of those; one red flag left with each canoe sold last year.
First, an experiment. Piece of scrap heat sealable Packcloth to iron over together, with an experimental double thick hem. The two narrow strips of material go inside the to-be-ironed area, heat sealable sides facing up and down, so the reinforcing strips on the inside will heat-adhere to the folded over dry bag material.
P1250001 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrThat does mean making the hem a little wider, but in some (many) applications, like at the roll over top and bottom corner grommets on DIY dry bags, that isn’t an issue. In this case I’ll iron down a two inch hem; one inch covering the narrow strips of reinforcement material on the inside, one inch beyond those is proven-plenty for a tight and durable edge seal.
To assure that nothing moved or shifted while clamping the fence in place or ironing I put a teeny dab of adhesive on the strips, to hold them aligned exactly in place before commencing to iron. And, to be certain everything was fully heat sealed together on the 4 layer thick hem, I ironed down both sides of the test piece.
With both sides ironed down (and the ironing fence removed clamping a board over the still-hot sealed area for some compression while the material cools doesn’t hurt.
P1260003 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrNice even seal along the fence side, impossible to pull apart, with a thicker, stiffer hem edge.
P1260006 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrWell dang, I really like that double (quadrupled) layer of Packcloth thick hem. I had been running 1” Gorilla tape around the open end on DIY dry bags, which helps stiffen the roll over edges and keep them unleaky unwrinkled when fold rolled closed.
P7301064 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrThat Gorilla tape reinforcement copied the thick black vinyl stiffener strip on manufactured dry bags
P8021111 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrBut Gorilla tape costs money, and there are always excess pieces of heat sealable scrap left over. The doubled thickness hem looks cleaner, and no worries about the Gorilla tape adhesive going gooey under a hot sun (hasn’t happen yet, knock wood)
That is already a success. Let’s see how that 4 layer hem thickness does with seating grommets or snaps.
P1270010 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrHmmm, the 1” wide inner strips, which are not sealed to each other on the inside, just happen to fit an old Timberline tent pole perfectly.
P1270011 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrThat doubled fabric technique would be an easy way to make a pole sleeve at any specific diameter. I am now chagrinned at the dozens of dry bags (and sail and etc) made with heat sealable material without using that doubled fabric trick. For a sleeve I’d use a single piece of heat sealable scrap folded in half, so the outside edge of the sleeve was wrap-around two layers reinforced.
Oh yeah; easy, material inexpensive (actually free, there’s always scrap heat sealable left from template cuts) and a twice as thick, tougher edge. Only took Captain Obvious 10 years and a couple dozen DIY dry bags to figure that out.
That doubled hem would be especially useful with Seattle Fabrics lighter-weight (less expensive) heat sealable materials like 70D Taffeta, 200D Ripstop or 200D Oxford cloth. We used the Oxford for some instrument dry bags, and even in a sea kayak use those are still going strong a hundred trips later.
https://www.seattlefabrics.com/Heat-Sealable-Nylons_c_80.html
Live and learn. I’m jonsing to try that trick on the next heat sealable project. I have a lot of (dark blue) scrap Packcloth. Might have to order a couple yards of lighter weight stuff, in a brighter, more visible color and use the scrap Packcloth for a thicker reinforcing hem.
Maybe red Oxford cloth again, the odd sized scraps, ironed together with a grommet punched through, make easy car topping flags for the canoe overhang.
P9250012 by Mike McCrea, on FlickrI need a few more of those; one red flag left with each canoe sold last year.
