Do you stitch or tape CUBEN?

[Tendertoe]

I have no experience with sewing cuben. I will vouch for the water-tightness and durability of the cuben and tape that Quest Outfitters sells. I used the .33 oz cuben and the cuben tape found at Quest Outfitters. I also ordered the pattern from them as well. Here is a picture of the 3 different sizes I made. I made multiples of the small and medium sizes. The one on the right in the picture is the one made from the pattern above. The stock dimensions, I must say, did not end up to my liking. As you can see in the picture, the stuff sack is extremely short and fat. Not really like a commercial stuff sack at all. I tweaked the numbers and ended up with the sizes you see in the middle and left. The middle stuff sack is holding my Golite Virga jacket and Golite Reed pants for reference. I do recommend ordering the pattern to support a cottage (and know how to put it all together), but here are the small size dimensions and the medium size dimensions I used for your reference.

[gnome]

the only time I have had to sew c was the arcs in a cuben bridge, 1/2 in tubular stuff, double sewed, (2 lines) I have a pac, stuff sacs, a front pac, tarp etc all glued, use some dacron double sided tape and some just the glue line. I made my pac very tall so I can just tie an overhand knot to close up. Makes it very close to being waterproof, the shoulder straps are the tricky part. the Z pac is sewed but with heavy seam sealing it works very well and is indeed a thing of beauty, wher my diy stuff works but I am pretty sloppy!gnome

[TOB9595]

POLL ADDED TO THIS Q ON CUBEN

Tom

[TOB9595]

Keep those thoughts coming...Maybe we'll get some makers of cottage IND equipment to give their thoughts.

Tendertoe the links are valuable. Thanks
Tom

[Tendertoe]

I used an Xacto knife and a cutting pad to cut on. I thought that a pair or scissors would work, but the fibers running through the cuben made it difficult to maitain a straight cut.

I also forgot to mention that I am not very crafty or good with making things either and this project was not difficult at all. After I made 2 or 3, I was able to crank these out in 20 minutes or so.

[TOB9595]

Blast ya TENDERTOE!!!
We need pics, ya bastid


You are more crafty than most...YOU made some...
Tom

[Ramblinrev]

Cuben fabric is "non-woven" fabric. It is a laminated composite with reinforcing fibers sandwiched between two layers of film. Non-wovens are generally not good candidates for sewing because they do not have the structure to handle the stress exerted by a line of stitching under load. The taping does not penetrate the film so the load is spread out over a wider area. The film is apparently very sturdy if it remains intact. Penetrated with holes weakens the structural integrity. At least this how I understand the question.

[TOB9595]

Cuben fabric is "non-woven" fabric. It is a laminated composite with reinforcing fibers sandwiched between two layers of film. Non-wovens are generally not good candidates for sewing because they do not have the structure to handle the stress exerted by a line of stitching under load. The taping does not penetrate the film so the load is spread out over a wider area. The film is apparently very sturdy if it remains intact. Penetrated with holes weakens the structural integrity. At least this how I understand the question.

Yessir
you may be gimpy but you ain't wimpy
Tom

[d-p]

Revrund Ramblin,

thank you for your time and effort.
Many great tips for new and old seamstressessssssss, ooooopppppps "makerzzzz" ...........

It's a keeper to review occasionally !

GM