MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

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Indiana Jerry
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MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

Post by Indiana Jerry »

I'd been kicking this around for a few years, but finally got a new bag a few months back and figured it was time to give this a shot.

First and foremost, props to Swindiana for the great tutorial on how to convert the MK VII divider into an extra pocket (http://medlem.spray.se/larskalvemark/in ... viipocket/)...if you haven't seen it, go read it! In part, I really wanted to do this for Swindy so he wasn't doing all the work here. ;)

I was wondering how to keep the best of both worlds...frankly, I loved how the divider would help, say, hold up bottles in my MK VII, but it was certainly much more functional once I had the divider OUT - suddenly I could put larger objects in my bag. And over six years, I found I stuck nearly everything in that bag!

So now that I got a new bag, I thought I'd give this a shot...but ambivalence being what it is, I wanted a way to get the divider back. The basic idea is a swing door. Just as in Swindy's tutorial, only unstitch one side of the divider, the side below the small pocket.

My first thought was velcro, and you can easily replicate this process that way, but I had a feeling it would tug out of place. Besides, a good old-fashioned heavy-duty brass-finished zipper at least looked a little less anachronistic in a WWII bag. ;)

Here's the pics...sorry for the lack of instructions. If you look at Swindy's tutorial (above) first, this is fairly self-explanatory.

Additional points:
- you're looking for a 'metal separating zipper',
- I turned or folded the ends of the zipper runs so the zipper heads wouldn't fall right out,
- I was able to do this all w/ a metal thimble, no pliers required, and
- I used standard OD green thread, doubled (so you had four strands on each stitch for strength).

One last note...I would have preferred to have the zipper head on the swinging divider, to reduce the amount of spare hardware in the bag jingling around when not in use, but due to the fact that I had right-handed non-reversible zippers, this would have put the zip on the INSIDE of the pocket, making it hard to zip/unzip at the bottom of the small pocket. So, the zip heads are on both walls, against my preference.

Pics below...thoughts? (If step-by-step instructions become necessary, I do have more pics, but I thought I'd keep this short for now.)

I used 18" zips because that's the shortest I could find as separating zippers and cut off the excess...make sure you cut the right end! 7" zippers would have been perfect, but in that size they didn't make them so you could separate the sides, they just unzipped down to a V. (like the zip in your jeans, as opposed to the zip on your jacket)
Imagezip pocket closeup open

Here it is closed:
Imagezip pocket closeup closed

This is what the zip run for the divider configuration looks like. I stitched it in place right where we unstitched the divider when this started. This zip run is longer than it needs to be, I just ran it down to the bottom (folding it on itself to keep the zip head from running off) because it was easy enough and I was measuring everything by feel. Besides, hopefully this will keep anything in the bag from catching on the BOTTOM end of the zipper. ;)
Imagezip divider anchor line

Here's how the finished product looks in 'divider configuration':
Imagezip divider configuration

And here's how it looks in 'pocket configuration'. That pocket is big enough to hold my blackberry (wide but thin) or my Garmin eTrex GPS (narrower, but thicker). The extra surface area of the zip strip translates into a little extra pocket room than just stitching it to the sidewall, but not a lot more.
Imagezip pocket config

Gear in motion...I'm a geocacher, so this is my standard tool config. Now at least my GPS - frequently reached for - has a place of honor so I can FIND IT instead of fishing around in the bottom of the bag! Essential gear: GPS, lensatic compass (which FITS the original mini pocket we all have!), pen, flashlight, and nitrile gloves. (I put my hands in a lot of scary places, and I've also found they work for spontaneous rock climbing and free diving. ;) )
Imagegeo-gear ready to go

Swindy, thanks again for the inspiration!
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Re: MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

Post by Swindiana »

Ingenious! :tup: :TOH:

Very clever, and thanks for remembering. 8)

High regards,
Swindiana
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Tennessee Smith
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Re: MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

Post by Tennessee Smith »

:clap:

Well done!!!
Great idea


:TOH:
-TS
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Re: MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

Post by Dr._J »

Sweet purse. ;)

Where you been Jer?
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Re: MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

Post by Noah »

That's awesome! Great idea! :)
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Re: MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

Post by Hollowpond »

Nice job! The MKVII is a useful little bag. If you can get over the whole murse thing!

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Re: MKVII Convertible Pocket / Divider - Zipper Style

Post by Indiana Jerry »

I just call it a purse in a gruff voice and let other people tell me it's not. ;)

Dr. J, I have been out where the wild black blows. Not sure what that means, but that's what they told me to say if anyone asks...

I forgot to point out, that this doesn't have to be so hard...a simple version of this same thing would be to skip the turned zipper for the pocket config, and simply put in the zip runs on the edge of the flap and the original stitch run location, and then it's a divider or just a flap you let...well, flap. Then you at least have the divider option if you ever want it, and the sewing is a little simpler.

Although frankly, this was FAR easier than I thought it'd be. I thought I'd break a couple needles and quit, but this was so ridiculously easy I don't know why I didn't do it years ago.

(Note: my 'sewing experience level' is that I had to sew my own badges on when I was in the boy scouts, 100 years ago. I still mend an occasional pocket or button, but it's never pretty. If you can do that, you can do this.)
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