Despite the back being completed, I was once again temporarily delayed by the lack of shock cord in my shipment from Point North. After a John Lewis run, I could get started on the front and side ripstop pieces.
Pinned haul loop and a pocket
First step is to cover the tops of the mesh pockets with a bit of ripstop, then thread the elastic through. For some reason, keeping the ripstop in place over the mesh was very difficult, but the poor result shouldn’t affect the performance of the pack. Also, it’s nearly impossible to tell which is the right and wrong side of my ripstop, so I just chose a side and went with it.
Completed front
Next up, the front bottom piece goes on. The instructions say this is cordura, but I think it’s actually supposed to be ripstop. Ripstop it is.
Front bottom detail
Front bottom finished
Moving on to the the side pieces, with more pockets to sew. These were a bit more tricky, as they have darts in them.
Pinning the darts
Sewing a side pocket
Earlier in the day, we had our Varsity Lacrosse match against Oxford and I played in goal for the Seconds (Alumni team). In the last minute, one of the attack men cranked a shot from about 5 yards out directly into my right hand. Long story short, that is why my hand may look swollen. And the shot still went in…. And we lost….
Finished side
With both sides finished, all the parts of the pack are pretty much complete and it’s time to put the thing together! This is just a matter of sewing the sides to the back, which includes the dreaded curved stitch around the bottom.
Two sides
Truthfully, I didn’t find the stitch too hard, but I did use a lot of pins. The instructions weren’t clear here though as to where you are supposed to stop stitching. It reads as though you stop at the bottom of the Side Bottom piece, but this doesn’t make sense for the rest of the instructions. Instead I continued around until a half inch from the end of the back piece.
Two sides
There it is–getting there! I haven’t finished stitching around the bottom here, that comes next…
This was around four hours of work, but the end is in sight! And my hand seems to be healing nicely–doesn’t seem like anything is broken.
4 Comments
I’m finishing up this pack today and I found your blog essential in attempting to decipher the more confusing parts of the instructions. Thanks for the killer pics!
Hey, I’m really glad you found it useful! I wasn’t sure if anyone was looking at this… Let me know if you have any questions.
Your site has been useful, I’m working on my G4 right now; and I’m quite confused with how to proceed with the darts, the instructions are really vague there. Were the other instructions you found online better?
Hey, glad this has been useful. For the darts on the side pockets, you cut out the square from the corners (in two cuts) and then you sew the two cuts back together. This gives some shape to the mesh, so that the pockets will have a larger volume.