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DIY Kestrel Clone

Thanks for letting me know where you got the material. Looks like *** is out of business.

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ckossuth said:
I like to think of myself as a “gear fabricator”. It sounds more manly than “seamstress “. LOL!! I made all three of the shelters pictured below for last years elk hunt. When you learn how to do that, other guys tend not to laugh at you so much.

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Man those shelters look great! Have been looking into making one for myself. Any tips or where to get started?


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ckossuth said:
That mesh nylon looks like it might work. I’d have to put my hands on a sample to know for sure. There’s a lot of good materials out there that will fill the bill.


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its same stuff mesh tree saddles are made from. Ive got a mesh saddle...and ordered some of this tuff at one point to try and diy...companies and ideas passed me by before I got the nerve to learn to sew.
Anyways exact same stuff
One side is an ambush saddle...one is material listed above
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Ted Otten said:
Man those shelters look great! Have been looking into making one for myself. Any tips or where to get started?


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Quality silnylon and thread for starters. I get most of my Sil from BPW (Bear Paw Wilderness). I only use Gutermann polyester thread on all of my gear.

The rest is just patience and technique. Silnylon is super slippery to work with. It is definitely a learning curve. PM me when you’re ready to get going on one and I’ll try to steer you in the right direction. I recommend a simple flat tarp for a first project to get your feet wet.


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sb220 said:
its same stuff mesh tree saddles are made from. Ive got a mesh saddle...and ordered some of this tuff at one point to try and diy...companies and ideas passed me by before I got the nerve to learn to sew.
Anyways exact same stuff
One side is an ambush saddle...one is material listed above
image.png
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This stuff looks like what shannon outdoors uses for the inside layer of their bug suits
 
Bored at lunch yesterday, I pulled a few of those pictures into an image editor to start trying to figure out dimensions of the seat parts, since I haven't seen them listed.

If the tape around the edges was 3/4", folded in half, I'm eyeballing one of the smaller pieces around 24" wide, 5 1/2" tall at the center, and 2 3/8" at the ends.

Kinda curious to see how off I am, since this was gauging pixel counts against estimated inch measurements, and not accounting for distance, angle, etc. Ultimately, it won't matter to anyone else doing this on their own - it's just an approximation, and personal measurements will rule. What fits my butt will be different (probably a lot bigger - 6'0, 270#) than what fits anyone else, so I might go wider than my 24" guess regardless.

Either way, that saddle looks great. My wife is starting to get suspicious of the questions I'm asking about her sewing mach...er, thread injector, and the old Hunter Safety System vest/harness I have out in the garage should be very afraid. Or maybe, optimistic about a 2nd life.
 
Ok guys, here you go. This is the pattern I used for mine. I’m 5’9” at a stocky 200 lbs. with a 34” waist. Your pattern may vary. I sized mine while wearing my Kryptek Aegis coat and bibs.

You need to cut the pattern twice. In my case, one set is Kryptek and the other is UPS brown. I flexed an aluminum yardstick from one side to the other to get the uniform arch. Sew the like colors (arch to arch) together with a 1/2” seam allowance. MAKE SURE YOUR FABRIC IS FACING THE RIGHT WAY! Fold that over and sew it again. Connect the inside and outside panels as shown below. You’ll have to uniformly trim the left and right sides to an angle you like before sewing on the grossgrain. Hopefully you guys can make sense of my drawings.

I prefer Gutermann 100% polyester thread on every project I do. The only thing that changes is the size. I'm using Tera 40 on this. I would say use something equivalent to Gutermann, but IMO there is no equal.

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Erniepower said:
Does the vertical stitching serve a purpose?

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I actually looked closer at a pic of the back of one. It looks like the inside and outside panels are only connected with the three vertical stitches and the perimeter stitch. The horizontal stitching only has one visible stitch. That tells me they are only connecting them with the vertical stitching. So to answer your question, in my case the vertical stitching is not really doing anything. Doing only the vertical stitch would probably be easier. My guess is they marry up the inside/outside panels, sew the perimeter all the way around, and then run the three vertical stitches.

Structurally speaking, I don't think the vertical stitching does anything. By the time the harness is done there's so much stitching around the entire perimeter the two panels can't go anywhere. I do believe however that the vertical stitches do a great deal to keep the panels aligned and prevent shifting while you're doing the rest of the build.

One of my drawings appears to be missing. I'll redraw both of them and edit the post.
 
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