A home made pouch that can protect small, valuable, hard to replace items in case there is a fire.

I made this for The Safe and Secure Challenge.

Step 1: Where the Idea Came From

Where the idea came from: one of those advertisements that you get on a social media feed or some page that you are looking at and AI (Artificial Intelligence) decides that would fit your advertising profile. An ad or a link to a fire proof bag that was manufactured in the U.S. I clicked on the link and it took me to a site started by a woman that came up with the idea after being in the Air National Guard. After clicking on the where to purchase link, I found out that they were sold out and had no estimate of when that, they might be available. Back to the page of the product, I read the comments with the latest date being 2017, and a reply from the woman that they were trying to find a manufacturer and were applying for a patent.

The main material for the bag is NOMEX a material developed by DuPont and used in a wide variety items mainly clothing, here is a link explaining what it is:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nomex

Here is another one explaining the various items it can be used for:

http://www.dupont.com/products-and-services/person...

Now NOMEX is expensive to buy, but I just happen to have some in ready made garments, and extra pair of coveralls from when I used to work for a Natural Gas company.

I also have a set Shirt and Pants ( that were made for the US Air Force) made out of the same material, that I purchased at a road side Flea Market.

The tags say Aramid, Meta-Aramid or Para- Aramid, that is the name given to the material. Aramid polymers are what the material consists of. NOMEX is a registered trademark of DuPont.

Along with being fire resistant it will need some sort of thermal barrier to keep the items inside from being damaged by the heat, I decided that a ready made oven mitt would fit the bill.

The pouch is made out of one leg from the coveralls.

Step 2: The Pouch Layers

A double layer of NOMEX for the outside fire resistance.

A plastic Zip lock bag for water resistance.

A Tyvek bag for strength and durability.

The Oven Mitt for thermal protection.

Step 3: Making the Pouch

1. I cut one of the legs off of the coveralls.

2. I turned the leg inside out, then I placed the oven mitt on the cut off leg to see how long a piece was needed for the inner lining and marked it an inch below that.

3. I machine sewed a seam across that mark from edge to edge. I also hemmed the edge where the leg had been cut off the coveralls.

4. Turned the leg, right side out, you then have a pouch inside a pouch.

5. Then sewed along the bottom edge of the pouches.

6. I then attached (sewed) Velcro (white) to the pouch, where, when the open end of the pouch is folded down twice the pouch can be secured using the existing Velcro (black) that is part of the leg.

Step 4: Putting It All Together.

1. I cut the bottom seams on both sides the Oven Mitt two inches up from the open end. This is so that they can fold over and protect the contents.

2. Then you put in the items that you want to protect, in the picture I show a passport and a USB thumb drive.The Thumb drive fits in the thumb of the Oven Mitt very nicely.

3. Fold the ends of Oven Mitt into itself.

4. Put Oven Mitt in plastic Zip lock bag and squish the air out of it before you completely zip it close.

5. Insert bag into a Tyvek envelope and fold over itself. I forgot to take pictures of these last two steps.

6. Insert the wrapped up Oven Mitt into the NOMEX pouch and fold the open edge over twice and secure with the Velcro fasteners.