Skiing Base Layer

I am finally back at the computer, with lots of lovely blog reading to catch up on.  Before I dive in though, I wanted to enter these garments in the PR active wear competition.

We took our family skiing this January.  Our first big family holiday.  For most of us, our first time at the snow and our first time skiing.  As you know, I live in a very hot climate, so we are not equipped for cold weather.  I borrowed ski suits, gloves and goggles from a couple of friends and then decided to make the under layers myself.  Like many sewing projects, it seemed like a good idea at the start, but with ordering problems from the fabric supplier (details to follow) and getting caught in the floods down south, I was left with only a day and a half to make 25 garments, most of this time without people to try on the garments as I was making them.  So, maybe a few didn't get their leggings hemmed.  And then at dinner one night, I saw that only one of my daughter's sleeved were hemmed!  Not all garments were made with matching thread and only some were hemmed with the coverstitch machine as I did not have time to cope with technical difficulties.  They were a success though, all worn, some for days at a time.

I will group them by fabric type, with pattern details to follow.

The fabric supplier was Rose City Textiles.  They have a HUGE selection of technical fabrics; however, I did find ordering from them to be a frustrating experience.  My on-line order didn't go through.  They were slow to respond to my email asking if the on-line order went through.  Lots of emails seemed to go missing.  It took a couple of weeks for all the emails to be sorted and the order posted.  Many of the listed fabrics do not have photographs and I did not have time to request samples, so I used price as an indicator of quality, choosing fabrics at the upper price end, being $US 8 - $US 12 /yd.  These prices seem very reasonable to me in Australia.  Kathmandu have had huge sales on thermal wear, with the cheapest items being $15 / item,  but I managed to sew 25 garments from about $200 worth of fabric, so it was much cheaper to sew them myself.

The fabrics I used were either wickaway knits or wickaway liycra.  There was no information regarding warmth or thermal properties.  None of the fabrics were as warm as the Kathmandu polypropylene thermals, but this turned out to ba a good thing, because the ski suits were warm enough and you can get very hot skiing.  Most of the garments were made to be very close fitting.  

These first garments were made from

• Manufacture Name:PENN PRINTS Manufacture Style:04802 Content:PO Width:58 Weight: RCT#:65266 Color:GREY CAMO Qty. Available:169.5

•  Manufacture Name:PENN PRINTS Manufacture Style:04802 Content:PO Width:58 Weight: RCT#:65265 Color:GREEN CAMO Qty. Available:79.5

This fabric only had stretch in the width, and even that wasn't super stretchy, so I cut the garments a little larger for this fabric.  My boys loved the print.  Because these shrts weren't as close fitting as I would have liked, they wore a close fitting t-shirt over the top.  I'm not sure if this was necessary, but I didn't want anyone getting cold through the day (Your eyes aren't blurry, this is the print!).

This next shirt was for me.  It was made out of supplex.  I hadn't heard of supplex, but a quick google showed it to be "A Du Pont trademarked fabric made of nylon fibers.  It is durable, lightweight, soil-resistant. colorfast, quick-drying and breathable" and "a family of fabrics that combines the traditional appeal of cotton and the performance benefits of modern fiber technology."

 The supplier listing is

• Manufacture Name:ECLAT TEXTILES CO, LTD Manufacture Style:H210371A Content:SUPPLEX /LY Width:60 Weight: RCT#:65708 Color:RASPBERRY ICE Qty. Available:1

I can report that it is very comfortable to wear and quickly became a favourite.  I wore it 5 days in a row, either over the top of a long-sleeved top for skiing or on its own for dinner.  I had it on to wear on the plane home and then when our flights were cancelled and delayed I changed out of it, because it was getting a little smelly after 6 days.  I think I will be able to wear it in Townsville, as this fabric is used for lots of exercise clothing.

 This next set was for my daughter.  This fabric was not photographed on the RCT site, and probably wasn't a great choice.  My daughter did not wear it much, because the fabric was more like undergarments than outergarments, so she did not like to wear it if she had to take her ski jacket off  (eg eating inside).  It was very lightweight and maybe a tad prickly, with a little bit of static. She mostly just wore them to bed.

• Manufacture Name: Manufacture Style:KZ7270C Content:POLY/ LY Width:46 Weight: RCT#:63378 Color:ANTIQUEPINK Qty. Available:269.49

This next fabric wasn't photographed either and was a lot brighter than I was expecting.  It was a set for me.  Very warm, maybe not as soft as some of the other fabrics.  Now that I am home, it will not get much wear because it is too warm for me to put on for even a couple of minutes here.  I wore this on the colder days, under my ski suit, and was snug as a bug.

• Manufacture Name:MILLIKEN Manufacture Style:695758 Content:POLY/LYCRA Width:65 Weight: RCT#:62033 Color:SALMON RED Qty. Available:164.1

 These next ones were favourites of my daughter.  I recently purchased "Sewing clothes kids love" and took some inspiration from their designs, even though I didn't use their patterns.  The fabric felt very much like cotton, although it was quick drying.  I'm sure they will get worn again as layering pieces come winter.

• Manufacture Name:UNITED KNITTING INC. Manufacture Style:59712 Content:RA/PO/LY Width:68 Weight: RCT#:66064 Color:PUMPKIN Qty. Available:366.9

 And finally, 11 garments were made out of the following fabrics

• Manufacture Name:MILLIKEN Manufacture Style:690082 Content:PO/LY Width:63 Weight:5.7 RCT#:54556 Color:LEMON PIE Qty. Available:183.3
• Manufacture Name:MILLIKEN Manufacture Style:690082 Content:PO/LY Width:63 Weight:5.7 RCT#:54552 Color:BLUE/SKY Qty. Available:2012.5
  
  
  The fabric was very soft and lightweight.  Possibly not as stretchy as some lycras, so the leggings were a smidge too snug.  I made a men's shirt, which was a winner.  My partner gets very hot skiing and just wanted a thin shirt under his ski suit.  The first day, he wore a Kathmandu thermal, but it was too hot and got very sweaty and smelly after just one day.  This shirt was much more successful, wicking away moisture and being able to be worn for several days before I threw it on the "too smelly" pile.  Apparently, it is also very good for cleaning spectacles, so I know what to do with all of the scraps!
  My youngest son found his to be very comfy and snuggly and didn't want to take them off.  I'm sure he will use them as winter jammies.
   

 

I don't have many shots of the clothes being worn, as they were under-layers, but here are a few shots taken in our Tokyo hotel, before we got to the slopes.

The patterns:

Men's t-shirt - Jalie  2918.  I was really happy with this pattern.  It fit nicely and much better than my Burda men's t-shirt pattern.  I made a straight Sz X.

My t-shirts - Jalie 2805 with V-neck.  Sz U in the bust, Sz W in the hips, extra width across the back, square shoulder adjustment.  This is a close fitting t-shirt pattern, and I found the sleeves to be a little too close fitting.  The pattern pieces have the wrong neck-line diagrams on them, so take a moment to check the pieces before tracing them off. I have made this a few times now and am pretty happy with it now.  I just need to add a little width to the long sleeves.

My leggings - Jalie 2920.  I added some length to Sz W.  I found these to be a little too tight in the calves, otherwise fine.

Children's t-shirts - most of these were made from a Burda WOF exclusive design pattern that I traced off several years ago, but did not record the pattern number.  It is a close fit shirt and I was really happy with it.  I should have used the smaller pattern for my youngest, but I wanted to test out the Jalie 2918 pattern.  I had to take in the Jalie pattern quite a bit at the sides.

Children's leggings - most of these were made from Jalie 2920  .  The camo print ones were made from the leggings pattern in "Sewing clothes kids love" which is a little wider in the leg than the Jalie pattern.

All up, very successful sewing.  Some garments will be put away for our next ski trip, others can double as winter jammies, and just a few could be worn as t-shirts here in Townsville.