Toothless won’t be carrying a backpack or any of his gear on the PCT but I wanted to give him some way of carrying snacks and small items on trail.

Natasha and I already have hip pockets for our packs but one improvement would be to access the hip pockets with one hand. A zipperless hip pocket like the ones SWD makes would be a solution.

We wear shorts and don’t have pockets for phones and wallets in town.

Solution

I decided a hip pocket/ convertible to a fanny pack would be a great solution for us

• It can be converted to a fanny pack in town for carrying phones and wallets
• It can be a fanny pack for toothless on trail to hold snacks
• When toothless doesn’t want to carry it, it can be strapped to my pack as a hip pocket. That might also be when I carry Toothless in my MYOG carrier. Which is when I need a hip pocket that is accessible with one hand.

Design

I haven’t made a fanny pack before.

I made my own pattern. I looked at the SWD hip pocket and other fanny packs for inspiration. I cut a pattern out of paper.

I used exclusively scrap material from other projects or salvaged from old items to construct the bag

• Outside
  • 10D grid stop nylon
• Structure
  • 1/8 in EVA foam
• Lining
  • 0.67 DCF
  • 0.5 DCF tape
• Assortments
  • 5/8 in webbing cut off Natasha backpack
  • 1/2 in webbing from MYOG carrier
  • Mara 70 thread
  • Large toggle cut off of Helinox umbrella
  • Various elastic
  • 5/8 in buckles from Natasha pack

The hip belt is made from two of the side compression straps from my SWD pack. The pack came with two removable straps (both attach to the pack with gated G hooks) to strap stuff to the side. I will be bringing these straps for laundry and holding gear that I carry for Toothless. In the winter I use the straps to hold his snowshoes or microspikes. They are heavier than elastic shock cord but can hold more weight and be reconfigured to strap gear on the top or sides of the pack.

Since I have two straps I cut them both and sewed a buckle to them. I cut each strap 4/5 along the length of the strap and alternated the buckle orientation so I could mix and match lengths

• Two regular length straps
• One very short strap and one very long strap

For using this as a hip belt the very long length is needed for Natasha and I and the regular length strap is needed for Toothless.

The G hooks clip onto webbing on the fanny pack and have the adjustment for the strap length.

I used an old EVA foam pad for the structure on the bag.

I lined the inside with DCF and taped the seams to have some amount of water proofing.

The lid can be popped open and the bag accessed with one hand. The lid can also be closed with an elastic and large toggle.

Toothless has been wearing this non stop since I made it. So it’s coming along!