How to Make Your Own Insulated Backpacking Jacket

If you are properly insulated and dressed, backpacking is a four-season activity. Enjoy walking in fall colors, chilly spring nights or cold winter forays into the wilds with an insulated jacket made by your own hand. Two methods are options for making your own jacket: kits or patterns. Benefits of making a jacket from a kit include having all the necessary materials along with a pattern. Going from a pattern only lets you customize color, fabric options and the amount of insulation for your coat. Your choices are dictated by the conditions in which you camp and backpack.

Things You'll Need

  • Measuring tape
  • Sewing machine
  • Weather-appropriate fabric
  • Insulation material (down or synthetic)
  • Cutting board
  • Pattern
  • Scissors or cutting roller
  • Thread
  • Iron
  • Seam sealer
  • Brush
  • Lighter
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Instructions

  1. Kit

    • 1

      Select a kit for your homemade jacket based on several criteria. The first is what kind of insulation you need. If you backpack in rainy and damp environments such as the northwest, select a kit with polyester or other synthetic insulation, as it maintains thermal qualities even when wet. For dry, cold arid or semi-arid backpacking, use a down fill kit. Down packs lighter while providing excellent insulation. Decide what fabric you want for the coat as well as the insulation. Nylon, breathable fabrics such as Gore-Tex or softshell synthetics are options for all backpacking environments.

    • 2

      Lay out the pieces of the kit fabric. Most kits have you assemble and sew the shell together, fitting in the individual compartments for the insulation after the main shell is finished. Take arm measurements and waist measurements and alter the kit as needed for your body.

    • 3

      Sew in the insulation compartments.

    • 4

      Stuff the insulation into each compartment according to the kit's individual packets. For example, most kits label "section 1, section 2," etc. If you use down, fluff it like you fluff pillows to get the loft up.

    • 5

      Seal the sewn seams using seam sealer. Go along each stitched seam and apply a coating of the sealant. Let the sealant dry.

    Pattern

    • 6

      Measure your torso and arm length dimensions. Lay out the fabric and the pattern and cut out according to your size dimensions. Patterns typically have three sections on them: small, medium and large. This is for the size range of the pattern. Use the section appropriate to your measurements.

    • 7

      Cut out the shell fabric first and run each cut side to a flame to melt stray nylon threads and prevent the fabric from losing integrity.

    • 8

      Sew the shell together and add pockets, zippers and snaps if so equipped.

    • 9

      Sew the insulation pockets into the interior of the jacket and fill to your needs. For example, if the jacket is for extreme cold backpacking, use 800 loft goose down or a subzero rated synthetic fiber.

    • 10

      Stitch the stuffed pockets together to seal the insulation into the jacket. Seam seal all stitched areas using a brush and the seam sealer. Iron the seams after adding the seam sealer to heat seal and add one extra level of security to the seams.