Dyneema Obsession and Sewing Wallets

     Even after the arrival of proven Ultra 100 and 200 fabrics (which my Durston Kakwa is made from), I am still attracted to Dyneema. I must have caught the bug from "window" shopping for all the newest ultralight tents online. I am just obsessed with its translucency and alleged properties. It was like I was in grade school again, and I got a little taste of the newest fad with my Dyneema Eno Helios straps and longed for the day when I could buy some more of this material. 

    Ever since I began my job in purchasing at a metal fabricator, I have fallen in love with material science. Learning all the ASTM standards and nuances within chemical and mechanical properties was a lot of fun to learn while in my first job post-grad. This has translated very well into my obsession with ultralight backpacking in the months that followed. Now, over a year later, it is cool to hear that Dyneema is 15x stronger than steel by weight. I should know the strength of steel very well from my sourcing experience. 

    Others that have been bitten by the Dyneema bug have had much worse symptoms than I, with some Reddit users and ultralight cottage sowers even going as far as to make Dyneema rain jackets for absurd amounts of money. I was able to tame my impulse to the MYOG (Make Your Own Gear) Dyneema small pouch kit from RipstopByTheRoll. 

You can find the link to this exact product HERE

    I do not own a sewing machine, but I do happen to have a Grandmother who is a marine upholstery seamstress. I love my Grandma, and this was such an awesome opportunity for me to spend time with her and learn sewing skills. We both really enjoyed tackling this project together. Grandma was very impressed with the new Dyneema technology, which has a laminate backing to the material. And that says a lot for someone of her experience!  

    We sewed this project on Grandma's Singer Classic machine. We used Guterman Sew-All thread, which is sort of a long story. The TLDR is that I have no clue what I am doing, and realized two days before I was scheduled to take the day off and visit Grandma that I didn't have the specific needles and thread recommended to sew DCF (Dyneema Composite Fabric). I ended up purchasing Gutermann Mara 70 thread and Shmetz Microtex Sharp needles from RipStopByTheRoll as well, but they didn't arrive in time. I purchased Sew-All thread from Michaels in a pinch, and when I got to Grandma's, she ended up having all of the thread and needles I needed anyway (W Grandma).

    I felt like this machine was more than capable of sewing the projects we worked on. We also sewed a fanny pack, and I love it, but it's definitely a "Mark I". So no pictures to embarrass myself with. 

    The wallet itself turned out great. Having two kits was perfect, since I had never completed an aesthetic project by myself before. Grandma and I figured out the directions while she stitched the first wallet, and then I took a turn on the machine and sewed the small pouch together while she fed me materials.  It's no secret that the wallet I am rocking out of the two is the one my Grandma sewed, but hey, I have a shoddy backup that functions the same and looks like it was sewn by a first-time user (which it absolutely was). It fits all the cards I need and a little cash. Heck, it even fits the key to my car in there as well. I have been rained on while camping with some fellas near Black Balsam a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, everything inside got wet, but that's because we did not seam-seal the wallets. 

    Bonus content: Tucker (4yo Male Mini Goldendoodle) has lovingly stepped up to be my adventure buddy after Koda passed. Here are a few sweet moments over the last two weeks:

    This next photo is from when I took Tucker to my men's early morning workout group (F3) and completed a 2-mile ruck with the guys (AKA, a Shmuck Ruck):