Insulated pants – suggestions?

[Nick B]

I have some leftover 1oz HyperD and some 5oz Apex and I’d like to make a pair of insulated pants for around camp and supplementing my sleep system in Winter. Would you suggest four separate panels sewn together on the inseam and outseam (like the EE pants) or one piece for each leg sewn at the inseam?

Also if anyone has any links to videos that would be great!

[Jeff McWilliams]

If nothing else pans out, you could order a cheap pair of the military surplus M65 insulated field pants liners.

I see them for about $15.00 on Ebay.  That’s cheap enough that you could open up the seams and use it as the basis for a pattern, if nothing else pans out.

Also you could try this:  https://www.thegreenpepper.com/product/148-mens-cascade-powder-pants-pattern/

 

[Paul McLaughlin]

I made my insulated pants using the one piece per leg method. I have made several pair of shell pants that way, so i modified that pattern for the insulated ones, and it worked fine. My experience was that i found i needed the shell rather larger than i expected. I made mine with a differential cut; the shell is larger than the lining to account for the thickness of the insulation. Doing the math, if that 5 ox apex is about an inchand a half thick (just a guess), then the outer fabric needs to be almost 9 1/2 inches larger than the lining – 1 1/2″ thick, treating the leg as a circle, that means 1 1/2″ larger radius, and circumference is pi*2r=3.14*2*1.5=9.42″ larger for outer shell. Which looks crazy when you cut it out but the numbers indeed do not lie. Of course you don`t have to do differential cut, but for a given thickness of insulation, and a given fit, your outer will be the same large size either way. You just have a smaller lining if using differential cut, which saves a bit of weight. Mine, insulated with Polarguard 3D, are not quilted at all. If you plan to quilt, then the differential cut thing could get complicated.

5 oz apex should make for some toasty pants!

[Nick B]

I’m definitely going to use the differential approach. I was using the same calculation – making the assumption that I’m circular (too close to the truth). I’m thinking the 5oz Apex might be a bit much, I’ll probably use half the thickness. I’ll use the full 5oz in booties – my feet are a little more sensitive since getting frostbitten 20 years ago. I don’t see any need for quilting if the Apex is sewn in securely.

[Jerry Adams]

yeah, what Paul said

I didn’t bother making a differential cut though, just make inside and outside both 9.42″ bigger

5 oz apex will be toasty indeed.  I have some pants that use 2.5 oz apex that work pretty good.  Except I rarely use them, just don’t need that much warmth.

maybe take a pair of pants that fit and use that to make a pattern.  It’s hard to get the right amount of room around the butt.  Then slit each side on the outside and make it 9.42″ bigger.  That works good making enough room for each leg, but then there’s more room than necessary at the top.

If you make sort of a sweat pants type design that’s baggy, it makes it easier.  Just have a drawstring at the top to keep your pants from falling down.  If you wanted to make a fitted look, like men’s pants, it seems like that would be difficult.

Roger and I both wrote articles about MYOG pants if you can read those.  I suggest a different color choice than Roger though : )

[Jerry Adams]

Sew the Apex around the perimeter, no need for quilting.  If you have a loose edge of Apex, it will move inward and you’ll have a spot with no insulation.

 

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