Daypack Alterations

This small daypack has worked well on hikes for several years, but I always wished it had a large mesh pocket on the outside and a small zippered pouch on the waist belt. Recently I repurposed portions of a discarded men’s hiking shirt to add the features to my pack. I was not concerned with affecting a warranty by altering my pack, as it was purchased so many years ago as a sample. 

Hand-sewed the mesh pocket to the pack after machine-sewing the pleats and clean-finishing the four sides. There is no easy way to access the area with a sewing machine due to the trampoline frame.

New outer mesh pocket is just right to stash my raincoat and a trash bag for small trash found along hiking trails. 

The prototype zippered pouch attached with loops to the waist belt works well for lip balm, a small map, compass, and snacks.

 

Lightweight Hiking Pants With Zip-off Legs

What to do when you are unable to find new hiking pants that meet requirements? Sew or alter your own. This pair needed to be lightweight, have zip-off legs, and be a black, stretch-woven fabric. A local store had two pairs of elastic-waist and elastic-ankle pants in the correct size on clearance, but they were too short for pants. I cut one pair to be the correct length for shorts, then cut the entire legs off the second pair, which would provide a good final length. The upper portion fabric of the second pair, including the waistband, will be saved for another project. Zipper flaps were cut and pieced from the legs of the first pair, so the zippers do not touch bare legs while wearing. 

Before adding the zippers and zipper flaps, I serged the bottom of the shorts and the tops of the legs to prevent frayed fabric.

Added side adjusters to the elastic waist using scraps of reused webbing and hardware from stash. Sometimes elastic-waist pants can be pulled down by a cell phone or keys in pockets, but the adjusters prevent that.