OK, I need ideas from the creative people in this Forum.

The outside mesh pockets (water bottle pockets) on my backpack have lost their elasticity at the top and my water bottles keep falling out. Any ideas on how to fix this would be greatly appreciated. One caveat, I don't own a sewing machine.

Here is a picture of the pocket (with a t-shirt inside so you can see it)

You could try taking a length cord, drawstring, or elastic. Fold it in half, add a toggle near the folded end (maybe add a knot near the fold so the toggle doesn't come off). Then attach one end of the cord where your pocket attaches to the pack, and attach the other end of the cord to the other side of the pocket. When your water bottle is in the pocket, just pull the cord and tighten the toggle to keep it in. Loosen the cord/ toggle to take the bottle out. You would not have to do anything to the pocket itself.

If you use elastic you would not even need a toggle, just make the length of the elastic shorter. It will stretch when you put the bottle in. You could do this with needle and thread, tho you might need a thimble to get through the thick pack material.

I wonder if there is room in that rolled hem at the top of the pocket to fish a piece of 1/8" elastic draw cord through it. You could make a small hole at each end, fish it through, then add a cord lock to each end.

Last resort - A 2 to 4" piece of flat elastic and 2 safety pins. Affix the elastic on one end of the pocket, gather the top of the pocket to take the sag out, pin the other end of the elastic so the gather material from the pocket is between your pins.

quote Stimpy: "I wonder if there is room in that rolled hem at the top of the pocket to fish a piece of 1/8" elastic draw cord through it. You could make a small hole at each end, fish it through, then add a cord lock to each end. "

I have a Gregory backpack that looks just like the image above. It looks like there is enough room for a small safety pin to drag a 1/4 inch bit of elastic through from one end to the other. The hand stitch the right length of elastic right through he old rolled hem at the top. Finish with a lighter to make sure cut nylon wont fray.

Thanks everyone, I will give it a try. I have some shock cord laying around. I will see if I can thread that through the top. If not, I will try the toggle.