I have searched all over the internet for a good sewing pattern to create my own plate carrier. I have the means and the know how to make one. But without basic measurements I'm at a loss on where to start. Does anyone know of a web site that can give me the information that i need? Links or diagrams would be greatly appreciated.

I'd also like some results.

I got a consew just sitting there and I'm bored.

Have you searched the DIYtactical forums?

Maybe ask this guy:

I don't know of any business that will just give you their patterns.  Those cost a lot of money in R&D

Well..... pals webbing is 1.5" center to center horizontally, with 1" vertical spacing.
Most plates are 10x12, let's say .75" thick.
Figure in your seam allowance, get some 500d and go from there.

You're not a novice gear maker until you have a pile of frankenstein-looking gear you're not willing to show off on the internet

How do you know about that larger Rubbermaid garbage can under my table?

That's weird, just today I was mulling over how I'd like to make my own plate carrier, then I stumble on this thread. I don't have one on paper yet, but I've kind of got it worked out a bit in my head. If you haven't yet, search for images of homemade plate carriers to give yourself some ideas.

Pretty much... It took me a year and 3 carriers till I got what I needed. Worked countless hours and spent many nights awake thinking about the design. Made mostly from scratch with referencing a few other carriers on the market as to not completly re invent the wheel.

If you haven't rolled your own gear before or not made much then start small. Just having a machine and knowing how to sew is just part of it.

Exactly. They figured it out the hard way. No reason you can't.

Overall, it would be cheaper to buy one.

There are no patterns...go forth and create.  Don't really have any other options.  Like others said we have a tub of lessons learned under our tables that no one will ever see.

 

This is about the sum of it. You'll have to do all your own patterning.


If you have some sewing experience,  it's not too difficult to come up with the base design. The front and back plate bags can be sized to your plates, and the cummerbund design should be easy to conceptualize from pictures of others (remember PALS webbing is 1 inch wide, so a cummerbund with 3 rows of PALS is roughly 5 inches plus a little more for overlaps).  The difficult part is coming up with your system of holding it all together and sewing all the velcro/flaps/buckles and such you need in place and in the right order.


For the one I made linked above, I used my APC carrier as a guide on some parts, and pictures of other designs in others. Experimenting is half the fun/aggrivation after all.

The way I do it is to start out drawing what I want the end result to be, then reverse engineering the 3 dimensional object into its flat 2 dimensional components. A good way to get a hang of this is by ripping apart an unused piece of gear and paying attention to how it was put together; looking at how all the different flat pieces were brought together to make the item, then trying to put it back together.

It's basically like having a paper airplane, then unfolding it to figure out how to make it.

As others have already mentioned, one of the toughest parts of a complex build (like a plate carrier) is getting the layering right. Putting the pieces together in the right order will take a lot of planning as well as trial and error.

Short of a laser fabric cutter, the best patterning material I've found is the poster board with the 1" grid lines on it. After figuring out your pattern, you can lay it out in all its separate pieces on the grid poster board, cut it out, and now you have a reusable pattern to trace onto your material (provided its a good pattern).

All of that ^ is why people don't provide their personal patterns as open source.

Hope that helped.

Having been there done that if you want a very minimalistic PC then just look at pictures of an existing one on the web.  Count the pals, they're spaced vertically at 1" and the stitching horizontally is 1.5".    THat will give you a pretty good idea of how big you need your pattern to be but remember seam allowance.  

The first 3 I made I gave away.  These were basically plate pockets with some molle on the front and with a webbing + elastic cord to retainment.    The fourth and fifth were okay enough that I gave to my wife and buddy.  I retrofitted these with side bands using 'broken catch' quick releases.

The 6 was a clone of a PIG that I reverse engineered by going over SKD's posted images along with YT videos but not quite good enough and I gave that one away to said buddy.   #7, also a clone of a PIG was the good one that I kept.  :)

So order extra material and you wish to go with some basic 500 and 1000d cloth in solid colors before you branch into more pricey camo colors.   Ebay can be a source for cast off in camo, they typically have some issue, either the pattern has a glitch in it or the IR coating didn't take or the WP coating didn't take or something but it's good enough for my needs.

Here's an image of one of my PIG clones in process, the size and dimensions may help you out.



And here's the DW in hers when I was checking fit, it's a IIIa soft plate carrier, not really designed for hard plates or load bearing although there are detachable padded covers for the shoulder straps, the left one is off in this image.  It was just a basic design I came up with and is a little wide to fit her soft plates that were custom ordered.

Found in the web. Khaki - faced to the outer world. Yellow - faced to the user's body. Green - inner surfaces, not visible then assembled.

Thanks everyone...you've been a great help.

I still haven't found a good set of plans yet. But, I have great measurement, and great information.

thanks again. :)