Last weekend I made a rain skirt.
– I am using 1.1 oz silnylon.
– I decided to go with a snap instead of velcro. I think this will be more durable than velcro (but maybe this isn't true?).
– I did a flat felled seam on all of the edges. So there are is no exposed silnylon edges.
– I use a 1/4" elastic strap that is sewed to one end. I then use a cordlock to tighten the material on the other end. I used enough material that the silnylon can lay completely flat, if I want it to.
– I think it weighs somewhere around 1-2 ounces. I should be receiving a more precise digital scale this week.
– I decided not to put a snap/velcro on the bottom of the skirt. I found that I did not need this with how long I made the skirt (this allows plenty of movement when hiking up hill in the rain).
When I tested one layer of silnylon with a snap, it quickly tore out of the material. So when I put it on the material, I did the following:
a. I used 5 or 6 layers of a silnylon square that I did a straight stitch (into a square) around where the snap is going to go. This stitch can be seen in the photos below.
b. Inside of the single stitch box, I made another box using multiple zig zag stitches. Inside of this box is where I put the hole to attach the snap.
Below are photos of the final product:
I am probably going to make at least one or two more.
1. From what you can see and my description, do you think the snap will be durable in this application?
2. Do you have any advice for improvements in what I've done?
Just as an FYI: I was looking for something that was a lot lighter than rain pants, but I really only needed rain protection for the top of my legs to help keep my core warm during major rain/hail storms when backpacking (I use a rain jacket).
