Well my dog is chasing goose down around the apartment with a confused look as to why he can't seam to catch much... I finished my new karo step down pants.



Here are the stats:

6.5 oz total weight
~2.5 oz of down
almost full side zippers (I bought the wrong type of zipper so I had to improvise)

I dropped about 4.5 oz from my winter base weight but equally important I exchanged a very large volume wasting pair of expedition weight fleece bottoms for a sleek compact bright green down pants!!!

Now when is it going to start snowing in the Adirondacks?

I can't wait to find out how well that holds up. Not only is it much smaller and lighter than your old fleece pants, but I bet they're much warmer as well. How much double sided loft do your pants have?

I think about 2.5" I have to spend some time this weekend spreading the down around evenly. I was nervous about the karo step on clothing so I did a "creative" 6 x 3 step. It is hard to have a rhythm in the spacing on a item of clothing so my sewn baffles are all over the place. After filling it and trying to move down around, I wish I would have gone with a 4 x 3 step.

I am very excited to see how warm they are. I may just have to wear them before I can get them on a trip just to see.

That's a ton of loft. I've seen other down pants before, but I believe this is the first one I've seen that doesn't have sewn through baffles. Did you make up your own pattern or did you start off with an existing pattern?

I assume the Karo baffles are still sewn through ? Karo step is just a different type of baffling it doesn't mean it's not sewn though

The pants are sewn through. You can make them baffled and it wouldn't have been that much more difficult just alot more time consuming and heavier for no good reason. I modeled this after the specs for the WM flash and flight pants. They are somewhere right in the middle taking features from both. I started with a green peppers fleece sweatpants pattern from JoAnn fabrics. Sized up a few sizes and added about 3" to the waist of the pattern so that I would have enough extra for loft and to fold over and make the synch waist. I think the pattern worked out ok, by the end I could tell that it wasn't meant for multilayer pants, my seams weren't lining up at all towards the end.

If I ever make another pair they will be 2" baffled, 5-6 oz of down, and the correct zippers to make them full zip.

Very nice Jeremy! For me, MYOG clothing is the toughest thing to do by far. Like the fabric so far? I think my next project with it is going to be a down jacket.

Ryan

I agree, I think it takes alot more mental picturing of what you are trying to accomplish. Which piece goes where facing which direction, what gets sewn to what in what order so you don't get stuck with an inside out pant leg... I did a Thru-hiker down jacket pattern last winter as my first clothing item, I highly recommend their pattern and directions. These pants were much easier and much less time consuming that the jacket was. I think the steep learning curve on the jacket helped with the pants.

I am really happy with the fabric, I was debating buying some more from Tigoat just to keep around for my next project but I have spent to much money of MYOG stuff in the last month to swing it. Keep its awsomeness a secert and hopefully there will be some left next spring when I am ready for a new project.

Edited by earn_my_turns on 11/18/2011 10:56:16 MST.