MMYOG (Mom Made Your Own Gear) – 1/2 length bug bivy

[Erik G]

My exclusive seamstress aka awesome mom whipped up a half length bug bivy/headnet thing for me. It’s pretty rad – NS50, elastic drawcord at bottom, goes to just below my butt, ~84” girth, 1.8 oz final weight. Can be worn as a headnet or upper body net with enough room to eat/read/etc comfortably, or coupled with a sleeping bag for night time bug protection.

[Matthew / BPL]

That looks like a great piece. Good job, Mom!

[David Gardner]

Excellent! Elastic “waistband”?

I don’t suppose there’s any way to persuade your totally awesome but exclusive seamstress mother to make a few more for a tidy profit?

[Matthew / BPL]

Simblissity makes a similar product although it’s heavier. I notice their photo of “poncho mode” seems to be blousing out further than your photo above. I wonder if you can get more blousing by moving the elastic waistband up your trunk a little.

[Erik G]

Correct, elastic waistband, adjustable with cord lock.

The photos are a bit deceiving, it can blouse out much further. A couple other things that contribute to this: My hat has a pretty floppy brim (working on that), and the NS50 material is very silky and not stiff at all like some other noseeum. Very comfy against the skin, although you don’t want it resting on your skin of course :)

[Monte Masterson]

Good concept Erik. The 84″ girth is smart too. I made a couple of half length nets and they were both failures, and it was mainly because of not going wide enough. I’m trying to figure how/where your mom sewed the seams together. I give your seamstress credit because the .50 noseeum is tricky to work with. Maybe a simple tieout for your head by sewing on a square 4″ X 4″ .9 noseeum reinforcement and then a 1/2″ grosgrain loop to that. 3/32″ shock cord and a mini biner to clip it up to a ridgeline or whatever. I find that if I don’t have a net tied away from my head the mosquitoes drive me crazy with their all night buzzing.

I made this 3.4 oz full length net below a few years back. Drawcord entry at head end and made with .50 noseeum on top and .67 on bottom. The all net bottom allows me to also use it with a WPB bivy, just like you can do with your net Erik. I’m in heavy tick country nowadays so I like full length bug protection, but if I went back out west a half length net would be just fine.

 

[Dustin V]

I got an Exped sleeping bag several years ago and the storage sack is mesh. They said it could be used as a bugnet, but it’s not as big as yours. Maybe you can use your net as bag storage.

[Chris R]

Very similar to the “Susie Bug Net” designed by Cliff Jacobson and sold by Cooke Custom Sewing. I’ve made a few though all in heavier netting. I even have a double version, mainly for use at paddling lunch stops in Scottish midgie country!

[Erik G]

Thanks, Monte – I’ll pass your compliments on. Mom has been sewing for decades, went to school for fashion design. She’s made all kinds of stuff to include everything from car covers to wedding dresses to incredibly intricate quilts.

The pattern is basically a rectangle folded in half and sewn together on two sides. The head end does have a little “half moon” piece of fabric to give it some volume. We did the best we could with the 2 yards of fabric I had on hand. If I’d had a bid more I might have made it large enough to go around my umbrella, and have a circular top. Alas.

I have a couple of small foam balls that I use with light shock cord to make tie outs to keep it off my face/torso. I also have a length of some type of fairly stiff poly tubing that might work well for this purpose, too. I’ll have to give that a try…

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