DIY Totes for the Outdoors

The studied craft of June Tailor meets the Royal Tailor of Mossy Oak

Greg Tinsley

Robbie Wilbourne This piece of writing unleashed a trove of great memories. Reminisces concerning my grandmother, Fern W. Dyer, there at her prized Singer 401 Slant-o-Matic treadle sewing machine, breezed through my mind’s eye with the easy perfection of the rippling, handmade white-cotton curtains that framed her sewing station.

While my grandmother was a skillful, if not brilliant, amateur seamstress, the needle-and-thread abilities of Ms. Robbie Wilbourne are purely those of the five-tool pro. For lack of a better description, Ms. Robbie is the Royal Tailor of Mossy Oak. She joined the company in 1992, and 29 years later, Ms. Robbie will smile, laugh gently and agree that she is certainly blessed to be considered a chief mechanic at the Skunkworks of camouflage.

“Mossy Oak has been so fortunate to have someone of Ms. Robbie’s caliber for so many years,” said her friend and colleague Cindy Cliett. “She is a respected pillar of our company who is absolutely loved by all.”
Thus, a short story concerning new, sew-your-own project kits by June Tailor, Incorporated – DIY products (from soft-sided coolers to standard totes) featuring Mossy Oak printed fabric – required the expert consultations of Ms. Robbie. And she was soon impressed to learn that June Tailor was celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021, and that the company currently provided more than 120 unique products to the quilting, home decorating, craft and sewing markets.

To embrace the ancient realities of bone needles, sinew lashings and the head skins of extinct buffaloes, the construction of clothing, satchels, pouches, quivers and packs remains humanity’s largest and certainly oldest industry by campfire and cottage. Nevertheless, sewing your own clothes, and even tear-mending a six-pocket pant, isn’t everyone’s game.

“I don’t think I’m the market, the craftsman, for these June Tailor kits,” I told Ms. Robbie. “I don’t have a sewing machine.”

“Oh, I see. Well, you could get one,” she said patiently.

“How much do they cost?” I asked.

“Well, we could find you something very suitable for about three-hundred dollars,” she said.

I pointed questioningly to a vacant machine across from Ms. Robbie’s. Her eyes widened to quickly match my own expression.

“Oh, that’s Mrs. Haas’s Bernina,” she said of the industrial marvel once utilized by Toxey Haas’s mother, the Royal Tailor Emeritus of Mossy Oak.

June Tailor DIY camo totes Walmart Such a revelation prompted me to consider that I was essentially loitering at one of the loftiest base camps on the Mount Olympus of best-selling camouflages. A stranger at the center point of how camouflage is applied correctly to wearable forms and gear – think concealing, universal-fit headnets for deer and turkey hunters circa 1986! With that, I kind of staggered back to quizzing Ms. Robbie for her professional courtesies concerning June Tailor products.

With scissors made expressly for lesser work than cloth, she neatly opened a package containing all of the materials to build June Tailor’s current flagship product in Mossy Oak, a kit that held the makings of a zippered (pre-sewn) 12” x 14” x 10” Thermal Tote ($69.99 suggested retail).

“It’s all here. They’ve thought of everything,” she announced, inspecting the components and spreading them in the velvety and orderly manner of a museum curator. Continuing, “The instructions are well-written, complete and easy to follow.”

Ms. Robbie then lost herself to what lay before her, mentally unpacking the geometrics of the product’s design.

She soon looked up with that smile of hers: “Sewing from kits like these really would be fun and rewarding. And as you’ve said, using Mossy Oak prints expresses yourself as someone who knows how camouflage defines some people.

“What more can I tell you?” she asked.

“How long would it take you to finish one?”

“Oh, for me, for the first one – less than a day, I think. I’m going to study and learn so much about the process with the first one,” she answered softly. “Once I was familiar with the June Tailor patterns and processes, I’m sure that even the most involved of these products could be built in just a few hours.

“That’s production. That’s what you learn in factory work,” said the matriarch who is indeed adored by all.

June Tailor “sew-along” videos for all of its products are available through YouTube, providing a level of watch/learn how-to that helps complete beginners create great products in no time at all. The company is dedicated to providing quality, innovation and economic value to a uniquely niche customer base. Enhancing lives through professionally designed creative projects is the goal of June Tailor.

June Tailor Mossy Oak DIY totes

Walmart e-commerce means easy access and shopping for June Tailor DIY projects in Mossy Oak, as well as Mossy Oak fabric by-the-yard. Follow the links below for door-to-door delivery of products that appeal to the outdoorsman in all of us: