I know of only two pattern companies out there with designs for a 40L or larger technical pack: Stitchback Gear and Prickly Gorse Gear. For my backpack project, I selected the Stitchback Gear Metamorph Pack.
I chose this specific design because it offers both straight and curved waistband options, features a fully removable and interchangeable hipbelt system, and allows for endless modifications depending on the custom accessories you sew. This pack can easily transition from a lightweight summer setup for fly fishing and hammocking in the Uintas to a rugged winter setup for hiking with spikes. The pack layout itself is simple, which I absolutely love.
I’m writing these posts in the order in which I think you should sew all the parts of the bag. Sewing the hipbelt first will help with fitting the frame and shoulders later. It’s important to know exactly where you want the hipbelt to sit, so take your time on this first piece.
The Hipbelt
ℹ️ Note that throughout this post, I will use the terms men’s and women’s, wide and narrow, and straight and curved interchangeably.
The Stitchback pattern states that it includes both a men’s and women’s hipbelt in three different sizes, labeling the men’s version as “wide” and the women’s as “narrow.” Personally, I find these gendered labels unhelpful, since hip shape varies widely across all bodies regardless of gender. Calling a waistband “straight” versus “curved” is slightly more accurate, but even those terms can be confusing. The best approach is simply to create a prototype of both waistband shapes and see which one naturally contours to your body at the correct placement.
Sizing
The hipbelt comes in three different sizes, but I’ve got to say the sizing is extremely limited! There should be a gap of 4-9″ between the ends of the hipbelt. The wide/straight hipbelt comes in lengths 27, 30, and 33 inches. The narrow/curved hipbelt comes in lengths 25, 28, and 31 inches. I made the narrow in 31 inches for me and the wide in 30 inches for Ryan.
If I extrapolate from the recommended 4-9 inch spacing between the ends of the hipbelt, the wide/straight hipbelt will fit a circumference of 31 to 42 inches. That’s an extremely limited range.The placement of the hipbelt isn’t exactly the waist or hip, so I’m using the term circumference.
The narrow hipbelt fits a circumference of 29 to 40 inches only. It will be a real pain in the ass for anyone to draft a smaller or larger hipbelt outside of this limited range.
Reviewing Proper Fit
I started this multi-part series by reviewing how a pack should fit and the physical implications of getting it wrong. I probably focused a bit too much on the shoulders and not enough on the hips in that post, but I think most people completely overlook the shoulders when fitting a pack. Let’s dive deeper into hipbelt placement.
The key is that you want the hipbelt to sit on your hips and not on your soft stomach. For a traditional internal frame pack like this, 70 to 80% of the total pack weight should be carried by your hips. The integrated lumbar pad should rest just below the lumbar section of your spine.
If you watched the recent YouTube video from Backpack Engineering, you saw him build a running pack with a belt that fastens way up above the waistline. That specific style of hipbelt carries 0% of the pack weight; its only job is to stabilize the bag and reduce bounce while running. The fitting guidelines I am sharing here are for heavy-haul packs where you intend to transfer the weight fully to your hips to protect your shoulders.
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