Has anyone sewn ski gear before?

[carb (Carlo B)]

I’m looking to sew my friend a skiing jumpsuit for his bachelor party and grabbed this pattern: https://www.thegreenpepper.com/product/142-mens-black-butte-jumpsuit-pattern/

I’ve never sewn anything that was meant used to be in cold and wet environments before though!

I’m thinking about getting some basic 2L waterproof/breathable fabric as the outer layer and then lining it with… something?

There are some related MYOG experiences online that I’m hoping to learn from but would love to know if anyone has any specific experience and recommendations!

General Q’s:

1. Is there a good UK supplier similar to RipstopByTheRoll (US) that specializes in outdoor technical fabrics?
2. Does anyone have experience with Contrado? (I’m thinking about using them for a custom printed fabric to get my friend’s wife’s face blown up and printed all over the jumpsuit. Custom Printed PUL Fabric)
3. Anyone have a favorite haberdashery store in London?

[Kyle (Kyle Barker)]

@Camille and I have chatted just a bit about sourcing technical fabrics locally but have come up short so far

[Amanda (Amanda Lynch)]

I have used profabrics.co.uk for ripstop fabric and they have always seemed good. They also have the seam sealers to keep the seams waterproof… Haberdashery depends on what I’m buying. General stuff it’s usually MacCulloch and Wallis or Fan Trimmings but if you need anything more, then William Gee or even Morplan if its workroom stuff you need.

[TracyD (Tracy Davis)]

I’ve used Contrado - they were pretty good but I just ordered a printed cotton. I have a sample pack somewhere which I can bring in if you’d like to look at the quality (I’ll have to dig it out to see if it has the PUL in it though as I got it a few years back and I think they have expanded their range).

[carb (Carlo B)]

I saw profabrics but wasn’t sure, so that’s good to hear!

I’ve also heard good things about https://www.extremtextil.de/en/ and it seems like they’ve resumed UK shipping if there’s a minimum order of 160€. (Though for now I’m not looking to order from them as they don’t have the color available I’m looking for.)

re: Contrado:
Ok awesome. The sample packs are just £0.75 each so I’m just going to order a bunch along with a test print then on the PUL fabric they offer! I don’t need it to be perfect, but if I’m forcing someone to snowboard in this gear then waterproofing that lasts at least a day would be enough.

[Camille (Camille Simonet (She/Her))]

I’ve come across “ukfabricsonline”, https://ukfabricsonline.com/waterproof-fabric?material=222.

Perhaps relevant as well: this page on waterproof fabrics specs (it’s for tents though, but useful to get some background) https://www.msrgear.com/blog/understanding-tent-fabrics-part-1-fabric-specs/

I don’t have a favourite haberdashery shop but noticed that “Fabrics Galore” is 15min cycle from the Makerspace. I plan on checking it out next week and can let you know haha.

Finally, I think Zach (I don’t know his discourse name) has experience of sewing waterproof seams. He might be a good one to chat with.

[Kyle (Kyle Barker)]

@techfolderkites perhaps?

[techfolderkites (Zachary De Santos)]

Hey, sorry for delay I’ve been down with a cough after a monster toilet flood that lasted 3 days. I wore a yacht jacket which seems to have an extra waterproof tape on the inside, probably some sort of iron-on seam tape, it wears out eventually. The tent seam technique is on YouTube somewhere, it works for ripstop nylon. I think this should be fine and with ski trousers they tend to have some insulation and a thinner polyester inside so you don’t see the seams

[techfolderkites (Zachary De Santos)]

Here we are, flat felled seam

[carb (Carlo B)]

Small project update (thanks for the help!)

My test sew (in my own size) went well. My local fabric store sells some ripstop fabric which is great to know, and I ended up using Contrado for the final fabric.

It’s definitely not cheap (£29/sq meter) but paying £170 for the fabric is still better than paying £450 for a ski jumpsuit that isn’t even customized.

Contrado’s test prints were pretty cheap (just a couple pounds for each test on the fabric I wanted) and came really fast. The sample prints and my full four meter order all got shipped next day, which is fantastic.

I’m sewing it to fit over top of my friend’s existing ski gear so that if it starts to fail, he can just remove it and not waste the ski day. So I think I’ll possibly flat fell the seams but I’m not super stressed anymore about them being extra waterproof for this situation now. (And if my friend wants me to waterproof it fully or insulate it, I can take some seam rippers to it and do that afterwards)

[carb (Carlo B)]

Worked really well, successfully made my friend the center of attention on the slopes! If anyone in the future reading this wants to borrow the pattern LMK and I can share learnings.

[Geraetefreund (Mark Heines)]

Wow! Looks awesome. Very well done!!!

[Amanda (Amanda Lynch)]

It looks brilliant