Want to dip my toe in the MYOG water…

Some additional thoughts:

Consider buying an older second-hand machine. The modern ones with all that electronics can and do fail – I have repaired some. But the older purely mechanical ones (well, the good brands) seem to last forever.

Stitches – I use straight and 3-step zigzag. Single-step zigzag is usable on webbing, but NOT on silnylon.

Needles – good ones. I use Smetz, but there are other brands. You will need a range of sizes.

Thread – great and passionate arguments rage here. Plain 100% cotton is OK for home quilting enthusiasts, but no reputable outdoors gear maker would ever use it. A lot of it is 'not that good' either. Core-spun poly-cotton is very good for most things, while bonded nylon is best for heavy fabrics and webbing. 100% polyester is usable… Do NOT buy serger thread for a conventional machine!

Needle/thread sizes: official recommendations are generally for needles at least a size or two larger than you need. But if you see the thread snagging on the needle at the holes, either your needle is too small or your thread is lousy. Cheap thread does that.

One or two sewing lessons at a local fabric/machine shop (or from an experienced elderly lady…) would be wonderful. There is so much valuable hands-on instruction to be had.

Cheers

Seriously guys, this is great stuff!!

My mother is very excited I asked her to buy me a sewing machine. Ha!!

I have been using a large cone of nylon thread lately; it is cheaper than buying individual spools, and though it was really cheap, it seems not to snag. I had to finagle to get it to fit on the thread post ( basically stuck a small empty spool up its bottom) but now that's pretty much all I sew with.

I use Gutterman thread from DIY Gear Supply. Lots of choices abs the best prices. Like, 3 something for 500M.

Cuben dog dish

Use pleats and there will be no seams to tape. The only sewing is the top rim.

Dog packs are not too hard if you use a non-slippery fabric, say 210 or 420 denier urethane coated nylon.

These are nice in addition to a good pair of fabric shears.
http://www.amazon.com/Gingher-2-Inch-Knife-Thread-Nippers/dp/B001DEJLVQ

The motion to cut with them is different than scissors, but they take up less space on the sewing table next to the machine and take the place of a seam ripper in most cases too.

Get a good unpicker. You will need it. :-)

"I make gaiters from 1.1 oz breathable nylon

Since the fabric is vertical, water runs off it easily, doesn't have to be real waterproof. Even when I walk through wet brush, my socks stay fairly dry.

Breathability is good. WPB isn't real breathable

Weight on my feet is much worse than weight carried because I lift my feet a lot more than my body. WPB fabric is fairly heavy

Maybe next time I'll try M50 fabric which is 0.7 oz/yd2

They do wear out faster than heavier fabric, but I probably have extra small pieces around and it doesn't take long to make a new pair"

OK, Jerry, you snagged me.
1.1 oz nylon may work for you, but it would be soaked on me after a short time in the rain. And I thought the GNW was even wetter than the NE. Might as well wear gaiters on Tevas.

eVent is quite breathable. Would mention Alan Dixon's article here, but you have been on BPL longer than I, so am sure you know it. As long as the gaiter is a light color and doesn't concentrate heat, creating massive perspiration, the eVent will work fine.

Shortie gaiters use so little fabric that a difference of 1 or 2 ounces per square yard is a very slight weight gain. And having dry feet and gaiters tough enough to last a while should be nicer than losing less than an ounce on the feet.

OK, I give up. Go for the M50! To each his own.

Jennifer, don't listen to the whole-hoggers. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.

Yeah, the 1.1 oz fabric gets wet, but my socks stay pretty dry underneath

Probably the worst case is walking through wet snow or wet brush. I have lots of experience. My feet stay pretty dry. They get a little damp from sweat depending on the boots.

If you're using fabric for bivy bottom or tent floor, then it has to be real waterproof

If the fabric is on top of you like a hood, shoulders, or the top of a sleeping bag, then it has to be fairly waterproof

If the fabric is on your side, like jacket body, pants, or gaiters, it doesn't have to be so waterproof. Especially when there are wool socks underneath because they don't absorb water very good, path of least resistance is to just go down the fabric.

Jerry,
When Danner first came out with the GTX fabric sided boots (showing my age again), I wore a pair coming south through the Mahoosucs on the AT. No problem coming through the dreaded notch because we were crawling through, in and around boulders. After that, we were on the well trod AT, and often above tree line in open areas with little vegetation.

But just before we left the AT near Goose Eye to take a side trail down to Success Pond Road, we went through a large section of knee high grass that was sodden from a rainstorm overnight. The boots totally wetted out and my feet were soaked.

The probable reason for this was that I'd waterproofed the boots with a silicone based spray that probably destroyed the water resistance of the first generation GTX. But it was still surprising how quickly the boots turned into little water buckets. Fortunately, we were near the end of the hike, and had spotted a car on the Success road.

That's probably why I don't rely on vertical surfaces to stay dry, even though I know its the horizontal ones that will fail first in a drenching downpour. Especially that mesh over a WPB liner that the bootmakers seem to love.

So nowadays, if rain becomes prolonged and heavy, especially in exposed areas, I backpack with a GTX gaiter that covers the top of the boot, including the tongue (I'm totally into the shortest mids I can find). While eVent is more breathable, the GTX isn't bad, and even after the rains stops, I can leave the gaiters on to keep out scree, dust and mud. They are so versatile, I often end up just keeping them on all day. No constant on and off like with the rain jacket, especially in northern Colorado where the weather can change from drenching rain, to sunshine and back, repeatedly. So the gaiters are one item never left behind for multi-day or week backpacks.

I looked for ones with a front zipper for years before finally stumbling upon a light emerald green pair at Loghouse Designs just across the NH border in Fryeburg, Maine. They don't make them anymore, so all of the above is by way of trying to elaborate on why they might be a good MYOG project.

I just finally got rid of my pre GTX Danner boots. I'll never use them.

Did you wear gaiters when your boots wetted out?

Like I said, I've walked through wet brush many times, with breathable gaiters, and my boots and Merino socks stayed fairly dry. The gaiter fabric is horizontal, and the socks inside aren't very absorbant – the combination works. The boots have to be waterproof regardless of gaiter, because they extend below the gaiters.

I remember one time I forgot gaiters in car, walked through wet brush, my socks made squishing noises from all the water that got inside, wrung them out,…

I like to minimize things, go lighter and lighter, until it doesn't work, then back up one step. Lightweight breathable gaiters work fine. If it's too light, they get ripped too easily, but I sort of consider them disposable and if I have to replace after a couple years, that's okay. I'll probably try M50 or Nobul 0.7 oz/yd2 fabric just for the hell of it, but probably too flimsy.

"Get a good unpicker. You'll need it"

Um, what's an unpicker?

And this is awesome you guys. I'm really excited now. It seems I have some shopping to do!!!!
Feel free to keep the advice coming…

So for my initial shopping list i will need:
a decent but not elaborate sewing machine
A pair of bank-busting fabric shears then some cheaper small shears for the thread
Polyester thread
Needles of various sizes
A seam ripper

Fabric!!

And a sewing class

What am I missing?

"Um, what's an unpicked?"

I believe it's another name for a seam ripper.

Or so the google gods would have me believe.

Some needles work on my machine, some make loops or rats nests

You need a machine, then get needles

Yep. Unpicker = Seam ripper