First solo MYOG Project – Insulated Tyvek undermitts

Please send them to me so I might provide appropriate feedback…. :-)

They look great George, I'll bet they're cozy. Nicely done.

George,

You could sell a bunch of these! Extremely nice work.

As for feedback…what can I tell you? The only change I'd make is a THIN fleece liner, in lieu of the M90 – but only because I have cold, cold hands and the fleece is a bit cozier as soon as I put them on.

I have some of that material in dark blue, think thin as those blue airline blankets…nice stuff for many projects.

They look absolutely great!

Todd

I made some mitts similar to this last winter. You use the fabric remnants that you have. The shell was fashioned out of cuben fiber (about 5 grams for the pair), and then I made two sets of polyester fleece liners. One set is heavy and one set is light. That works.

–B.G.–

Fleece is an interesting idea. For my usage, I didn't intend them to be used alone though, but as part of a system (wool or stretch fleece gloves, 1-2 pairs of these (depending on conditions), and an event shell.

I'm a bit concerned about the durability of the soft tyvek, but I hope if I keep the event overmitts over them for general use, all will be good.

Thanks for the feedback!

Yeah, the tyvek outer shells themselves are superlight (about 8g per pair). I originally constructed them as a tyvek shell and a detachable m90/exposed apex inner glove. But I was concerned about the durability, so I fixed them. Still not sure I made the right call, but at a half an ounce difference, it didn't seem too bad either way.

They look well constructed–nice work. Tyvek and Frogg Togs is not the same material. Tyvek is a polyethylene and Frogg Toggs is polypropylene. They are both very hydrophobic and light weight (lower density), but one is pretty thermally conductive and the other fairly non conductive (for a solid).

Neither would i ever use for a mitt shell after some use and testing with both the materials, they are just too fragile, which is unfortunate because they do have nice moisture management properties.

What would be excellent though, are very tightly *woven*, near microfiber sized fabrics made out of polypropylene or (especially) ultra high molecular weight polyethylene (the material that Dyneema, Spectra, etc are made of), provided they are treated with UV stabilizers. I'm not sure it's possible with the latter material–it's definitely possible with the first but i just can't ever find any of the stuff. :(

Awesome work! Quick question….did you use a pattern or how did you know what dimensions to make each piece before you sewed it? Experience or ?

Edit: NVM! Saw the pattern link on the blog post you linked to.

And…while on the subject of overmitts…what would be the best material? MLD makes them out of eVent…but if I plan on always using them with trekking poles, wouldn't something like dyneema X be a better option for durability? (even though they wouldn't breathe?)

Depends on how cold or wet it is and how active you are with them and if you are wearing a VBL in combo. If you don't wear a VBL, then you will quickly wet out the insulation part of your hand insulation system when more active with a non breathable over mitt.

But unless it's really cold, you're hands will get mighty sweaty with a VBL, some insulation, and a non breathable over mitt.

When i'm warmed up and hiking harder, i can go down to a glove liner and be ok at temps down to even 15 F, unless it's really windy. It would have to be pretty dang cold for me to combine all the above when more active.

There probably is no one best material.. but anything heavier dutier would work ok.

As mentioned Frogg Toggs aren't tyvek and are quite fragile if bushwhacking at all. Not sure how they would hold up if you use poles. If you really used material from the kids set as implied, you are at least using the thicker stuff like the heavier adult version vs what the adult ultralight suit uses.

Really like the ingenuity and resourcefulness though!