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The ONLY Welding Helmet Bag that is made SPECIFICALLY for the purpose of containing, protecting and carrying a welding helmet and accessories.

A smart guy named Plato (not to be confused with Pluto) said, “Necessity is the mother of invention.” When I was first asked by my son Joel (a welding student) to sew a bag with a drawstring for his new welding helmet, I had no preconceived ideas as to what was already on the market. I didn’t look online or go to a welder’s supply store beforehand to see what was being sold for this purpose, so the bag that resulted after my first trip to the fabric store, and a couple of hours at my sewing machine, really was original.

I simply picked up the helmet and started to figure out how it wanted to lay, which was face down on the lens where the weight is. Why fight gravity? How is it picked up? I thought about the person that would be using (or abusing in Joel’s case) the bag and what else he may need to carry around with it (gloves, extra lens, cap, safety glasses, etc). My creative juices got flowing.

After sewing some cotton fabric together to fashion a bag, I put his welding helmet in it and decided, nope, not enough padding or structure. The bag needs to sit upright when the helmet is inside, so I added an interior quilted liner. More! I can do better than that! The helmet still went clunk when I sat it on the floor. Okay, how about a piece of 1” thick foam sandwiched in the bottom between the inner and outer layers? Cushy, now we’re talking. That will take some use and abuse. Add a drawstring and stick a pocket on it and it’s done. Right?

I call the very first bag, Frankenbag! Crude but it worked. Being a “type A” personality, I just wasn’t satisfied (and of course my son didn’t like the fabric Mom picked out on sale), so Bag.1 got alot more refinement, upgrades, and pockets. Lots of pockets. Big cargo pocket on one side and a flat pocket on the other side and then sew another pocket on it to make a “triple pocket” for a phone, wallet and small stuff. Mom’s on a roll now! I can’t stop myself from making yet another pocket. Here’s another idea, how about a fleece lined pocket on the inside of the bag where the most protection is for two extra lenses? Got that too. Oh, and put flaps on all the pockets with velcro closures to keep all the stuff in. Okay, now I’m over making pockets.

Joel (a happy customer finally), takes his “new and improved” bag to class for show-and-tell. Of course I was glad to be done with that project and got the mess cleaned off my dining room table. Next day, he tells me his welding instructor said “There isn’t a bag on the market like this.”, and a couple of his buddies want me to make them one too. DING! DING! DING! What? At this point I do some homework on the internet and discover that his instructor’s words seem to be correct. My ideas of a bag designed for the helmet to lay face down while the bag stays sitting upright, quilted interior liner, fleece lined lens pocket, 1” thick foam bottom (that was genius if I do say so myself) and cotton fabric appear to be original. Cha ching! Came up with a name for the enterprise, did a Google search for “How to Patent An Idea” and a few more hours at my sewing machine and poof! Coogear.

Creative juices on full boil now folks! Make a few more bags (getting better and better) that include a keyring, decorative pocket fabrics, heavyduty stitching, personalization, a detachable safety glasses pouch, and further subtle improvements in the pattern design and assembly.

Juices boiling over. Walking through the fabric store again. Fire Retardant for Fabric in a spray bottle. Hmmm. That would be a good idea to put on the Welding Helmet Bags. Next day in the back yard, my “inner pyromaniac” is smiling at the matches burning on my not-so-scientific-expriement fabric test. The duck cloth with the fire retardant treatment got scorched and the match just burned out, the untreated cotton smoldered and burnt, the nylon shriveled into a flaming puddle of plastic.

Mean Mommy

Joel: “Mom?”

(heavy sigh) Me: “What?”

Joel: “Can you do something for me?”

Me: “What now? Wasn’t 27 hours of childbirth enough?”

Joel: “Can you sew some sort of a carrying strap on my bag?”

Me: “Sure son. If you clean your disgusting room.”

(grumbling and whining commences) Joel: “Pleeeease Mommmmm?”

After several minutes of making my grown son beg (which I relish with evil and glee), I agree to this excellent idea. A week later, my husband wanted to stop by a military surplus store to look for gun stuff. What I find there is much better: cotton webbing shoulder straps from World War II that had been stored in Eurpean Allies underground bunkers, preserved in airtight barrels since 1945. They came in green, tan, and green & tan combination colors and are stamped with marks identifying which countries they were made in. How cool is that? I do like to recycle. Of course I put them in the washer to clean the soldier sweat off and dyed some of them black. Sew snaps on the ends and a couple of D-rings on the bag and presto - a piece of history with new purpose.

Scott the Computer Guy

Now, none of this would be possible without having “The Best Computer Guy In the World” at my fingertips. Lucky for me, I’ve been happily married to that guy for over 10 years. Just so you’re prepared, I’m gonna get mushy here. Scott is a terrific husband, my best friend with benefits, a convienient magical money tree, gives great massages, makes fantastic blueberry pancakes for me on the weekends, allows me to shamelessly flirt with other men, and most importantly - he’s My Rock. He slaves at a computer all day at work, then comes home to feverishly create this web site and cook me dinner while I’m sewing. There aren’t enough words to thank him for everything he does. I think I’ll keep him.

Safety First!

That’s pretty much how Coogear Welding Helmets Bags was born. Now we’re making a go at making a great product for welders and building a small business out of it.

Thanks for checking out our web site and reading our story.

Lynn Partridge
aka: The Bag Lady / The Old Bag / Hot Mom / Sweetie Pie