Mrs Landslide has ordered a sewing machine. Naturally, this has launched many flights of fancy in my mind, and I'm going to give some MYOG a go.

Without going too spendy, what should we have to go with the machine? So far, I'm thinking:
*A cutting mat (any particular brands/features/recommendations?)
*Thread - Guterman sew-all seems a good bet?
*A rotary cutter (any particular brands/features/recommendations?)
*Some fabric - what's a good basic (read: cheap) option?
*Webbing - I've found options of nylon, polypropylene, polyester - what's the difference?
*Pins. Lots of pins...
*Tape for lacing loops and the like (recommendations?)

(Awaits deluge of ESSENTIAL!!! items...)

Forget pins, they're fiddly and make holes in stuff, the essential item is mini bulldog clips. Many of the materials will be slippery and won't hold any type of decent crease, these will hold everything together nicely.

Cutting mat - A4 will suffice but A3 or even better will be an A2 size.

Cutter - I prefer those that have a sliding blade cover rather than those that that you squeeze to release the blade. All mine are cheap and cheerful and still sharp ... cuben will blunt them after a while though.

Material - depends what you want to make really. Some PU coated nylon will get you going and you won't cry when you knacker it up. Try making some drawstring bags.

Again, depending on what you're making, you might find that 10mm or even 6mm cross-grain webbing is fine for tie-outs and the like, As Reg said somewhere yesterday, much webbing is overkill but webbing hardware is only available in certain sizes so you'll need to select webbing based on fittings to some degree.

A 1m long steel ruler.

Rule #1. Don't buy cheap ****.

Thread Unpickers, aka Seam Rippers! The ability to remove stitches is as important as the reverse ;-)

Scissors. Top quality dressmakers scissors and pinking shears. Fiscar. You can never have too many. One large for pattern cutting, one medium for trimming. Protect them with your S.O.'s life.

Needles. Match needle size and type to material and thread weight. Replace often.
30 minutes stitching through 1000wt cordura kills the needle! 30 mins at 800 stitches/min = 2400 impacts through the fabric!

Wonder clips are great but don't always grip coated materials. If using pins, get the headed versions, unless you've got long, delicate, dexterous fingers.

Basting (sailmakers) double sided tape. For when clips or pins don't work. Water soluble versions are available.

Tight weave polyester webbing is inherently non absorbent. Grosgrain webbing is more flexible but retains moisture. See also Rule #1

30wt (Topstitch) or 50wt (Mara) Polyester threads are better for cordura type fabrics.

For waterproof items, cotton thread can be better than polyester because it swells slightly when wet to 'fill' the needle holes. Try using 2 or even 3 x 100wt threads for upper and lower stitching. This does not work on all machines and will probably require some experimentation with bobbin winding.

Practice on cheap (this is the only exception to Rule # 1) material. Cotton or polyester-cotton blend is easier to use than anything else. And the cheapest source (£/m²) is often supermarket type bedsheets.

Some random bits to add as a non-expert:

Thread - I bought a spool of heavy bonded nylon thread years ago to sew heavy guage (16oz) canvas. There's enough to reach to the moon and back, and it's really strong - you can't break it with your hands. I use it for most gear repairs/modifications because I figure it'll help cover any flaws in the work/abuse in service.

Scissors - probably nice to have really well made expensive ones if you're doing a lot of work. Mine are some cheap office ones I appropriated when some desks got cleared out at work. I sharpened them properly and now they work pretty well.

Don't buy cheap webbing hardware, buckles, etc.

Weirdly, I hardly ever use scissors

Forgot to mention an iron with good temperature control. It's not so much the exact temperature, more the ability to maintain that temp. within a few degrees.

Some projects and ideas. You probably already have these given you are assembling other bits, but doing something, anything, will help you understand possibilities and limitations considerably.

i second pu coated nylon for starter projects.

cutting mat . i got mine from from the works. a2 mat for 8wuid, or a3 mat for a 5er, not sure if shops are open or if its still as much of a bargin if u gotta pay for postage. https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/hobby-kniv ... gL0XfD_BwE

the little snip thingys. upon further research seems they might be called "Hemline Thread Snips". i use them ALOT, pretty much after every stitch i make. must faster-easier than using scissors to remove threads i think. some small doings like these are gona be cheaper to get in a shop than getting of the interwebs id imagine.

oh and grosgrain! with what seems like a nonexistant S, or an S that looks like an S but should be pronounced like a W. i could be wrong here. youtube has taught me all sorts of things wrong over the years.

its great for hiding all your dody-wonky stitching, for little pulls on the end of zippers, for hanging loops on pouches etc. endless uses. i think its 25mm i use most

shutupthepunx wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 7:06 pm oh and grosgrain! with what seems like a nonexistant S, or an S that looks like an S but should be pronounced like a W. i could be wrong here. youtube has taught me all sorts of things wrong over the years.

its great for hiding all your dody-wonky stitching, for little pulls on the end of zippers, for hanging loops on pouches etc. endless uses. i think its 25mm i use most

A picture's worth a thousand words. Especially here methinks ;-)

iäll let you click on them instead of inserting so im not dirtying up the thread with my shonky doing

https://i.imgur.com/cOL9OLK.jpg grosgrain used as binding round the edges on an almost finished tool roll
https://i.imgur.com/xQjau3P.jpg and here its used as little pull tabs for the zippers
i also bided the edges of the inside of one of those bags with grosgrain to see if it was worth it. murghhhh not convinced.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00 ... UTF8&psc=1 these clips are brilliant. i used them alot more than pins, though i do find pins have their place. they are cheap, small, light, strong, and many, what more do you want. the clips im on about although i guess these things can apply to pints also. but they are also metal. and spikey.

ive been struggling to find the balance between having some stuff in stock as it were, so i can take into a just thought up project there and then. and not having to much parts and bits that i duno what ill use them for. i dont wana have to wait for an order from pro, extrem, or adventurexpert anytime i wana do anything but at the same time. hoarding

shutupthepunx wrote: ↑Thu May 14, 2020 7:02 pm the little snip thingys. upon further research seems they might be called "Hemline Thread Snips". i use them ALOT, pretty much after every stitch i make. must faster-easier than using scissors to remove threads i think. some small doings like these are gona be cheaper to get in a shop than getting of the interwebs id imagine.

That reminds me - a stitch unpicker / seam ripper for modifications and the inevitable beginner's (or experienced-but-impatient/cackhanded in my case) mistakes.

Thanks for all the advice folks. Initial forays into musettes and a little zipped pouch have been encouraging...

I'd actually quite like one made out of the horse cloth .

Landslide wrote: ↑Sun Jun 07, 2020 12:42 pm Thanks for all the advice folks. Initial forays into musettes and a little zipped pouch have been encouraging...

well done landslide, looks great. the next stage for me after 2d pouches was trying more 3d box bags. this was a little harder but not much. this site help if you end up heading down that road https://sarkirsten.com/pouch-pattern-calculator or search on youtube for 'box pouch'

this was actually the link i was looking for, https://jenswirf.shinyapps.io/generator/

some video on how to use it on the pacmangear instagram page

Progression.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC0egiTlR30/

Looks good that!

Landslide wrote: ↑Sun Jul 19, 2020 11:35 am Progression.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CC0egiTlR30/

big step up there. so good. well done!