How To Start Making Your Own Gear

Making your own gear is an incredibly rewarding experience. After all, you now have custom made gear for you and your adventure.

If you’re new to the DIY world, stepping in can be confusing and downright scary. 

In this blog, we will outline a few of our favorite tips to get you started with confidence! 

Budget time, energy, and money on simply being bad at sewing.

The best way to learn is to practice with no limitations. Buy some cheap fabric, or utilize some scraps and just go to town. Run stitches. Play with all of the dials. Fine tune your needle position. Touch every part of the machine and run stitches in every direction. You just want to get comfortable knowing how it feels to sew.

There is no replacement for real skills. YouTube videos and Blogs have endless supplies of support for those learning how to sew.

These are basic techniques that we recommend you know: 

- Straight stitch  

- Zig Zag stitch  

- Roll Hem 

- Fold Hem  

- How to sew a zipper   

- How to sew webbing

Eventually, we will be developing a series of videos to help you learn these skills. In the meantime, we have linked some good ones that have helped us in the past. 

We also did a podcast episode about the seams you need to know. Check that out  here. 

This is as simple as it reads. Sewing frequently will improve your abilities.

Perhaps your time is limited. You only need a few minutes of sewing to refresh your skills. Don’t feel pressured to sew for hours and hours. Do what feels manageable, then take a break. There is no shame in stepping away and coming back with a fresh mind.

Each tip builds upon the previous tip. If you are unafraid to try, learn good techniques, and practice often, you will learn how to sew - we promise.  

Once you are confident in the previous steps, we recommend that everyone tries a DIY kit.

A kit is the perfect intermediate phase for new DIYers. Kits are pre-cut and/or pre-packaged to give you exactly what you need to make one specific item. This reduces much of the headache and all but eliminates the confusion around planning a project. Select from a few options like color or size and you're ready to go. 

Here are some specific suggestions for intro DIY kits: 

- $10 DIY kit 

- Wallet Kit  

- ZPP Kit

You can shop all our accessory kits here.

Working with one of these kits will give you confidence in your skills as well as inspiration for new projects to work on. All for a low investment and nearly guaranteed success. 

Our RBTR team is full of DIYers and makers just like you. These are tried and true methods from a team of people who have been in your shoes.

There is an entire community out there who want to see more makers learn the joys of DIY. Join a reddit group, Facebook group, and find us on Instagram. 

So what are you waiting for? There’s your road map. Now it's time to act!

Lastly, never forget that we are always here for support when you need it. Don't hesitate to reach out to our support team at any time.