Sewing Polartec Thermal Pro query

[Edward John M]

I have 5 metres of it here that I want to use for an extreme cold weather midlayer. Boot length pants and a hooded pull-over top.

This stuff is sticky and it doesn’t layer all that well over the under layer I normally wear in the snow. Is there any great advantage to be gained fron lining the fur fabric with a slick and minimal stretch polyester mesh or is it better to use a second LW or UL windshirt like my Montane UL between the layers?

The problem I see with the Montane in really cold weather is that it is not all that breathable and I hought that getting rid of the moisture vapour was very important.

My normal cold weather underlayers are a very light Patagonia  crew neck and a stretch fleece similar to Polartec PowerstretchPro  and PowerstretchPro boot length tights made for me by my beloved wife

[Justin Baker]

There is a huge disadvantage to lining the fleece with a slick fabric. That slick material becomes very cold when wet. Fluffy fleece is good when damp because it gives you minimal surface contact which means it holds less water against you. I cut the lined pockets out of fleece for this reason. I like to wear my thermal pro hoody next to skin for cold weather packrafting. I recommend just dealing with the clingy fabric because high loft fleece is such a great material.

[Edward John M]

So you don’t see the sticking problem as being a big deal?

OK So I’ll not bother, makes the job so much easier too.

It may mean tho that I will need to do something about the inner windshirt layer as the Montane Featherweight isn’t as breathable as perhaps needed in deep cold.

any suggestions on a suitable DIY fabric? such as 1.2ounce EPIC or even a 2.5 ounce HD army nylon taffeta?

I have both of these on hand

[Edward John M]

Here’s a third thought that I just had Justin

Instead of using a separate windshell and because this is going to be a extreme cold weather garment, if I make a Buffalo Sport parka clone with an integrated shell what air permeability should I be looking for?

I have a feeling that either of the EPIC fabrics i have here may be too tightly woven to allow vapour transpiration quickly enough, the Australian Army EPIC tffeta tho is more breathable than the EPIC ripstop. In very cold weather which is more desirable?

[Edward John M]

I just found the coffee filter pages, now all I need to do is find a few cheap paper filters to check all of my fabric stash ; we drink plunger coffee in this house so no filters anywhere, and I’ll try and find a fabric with the optimum airflow of two filters together.

If I read the thread properly 2 filters together should equal ~39 CFM per foot squared. Next question what wind speed does that equate to??

[Edward John M]

My Google-Fu has failed me once again.

ThermalPro has two faces and a directional nap and when making up I know the nap has to face down but which is the inside when making shelled garments? I asked PT for advice but so far no answer

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