If I were to make a windshirt form m90, how would you sew the material to hide the raw edges? I made a silnylon/m90 bivy based on the SMD Meteor pattern, and found the m90 to fray extremely quickly after it was cut. For the bivy I used french seams to hide the raw edges, but don't know if that would make the seams feel annoying against the skin. My current Suggio (fox branded) cycling wind-jacket internal seams look to be done with a serger.

That being said, what's a good pattern for a whindsirt, and how hard is it to do? What about the collar details? I really hate when zippers snag on my facial hair (drive's me nutts) and all the higher end garments I'm familiar with have fancy soft fleece type baffles to protect the wearer's face from the zipper. Those details seem like it would add a lot of complexity for the below average sewer. Oh, and the primary use would be for cycling. I don't know how that affects the pattern.

Thanks,
BM

Do a Flat felled seam like this:

http://www.sewneau.com/how.to/flat.felled.seam.html

Though, instead of sewing solid 3/8 seam allowances on both pieces and cutting one down, I'd recommend simply pinning your material with say 1/4"- for one and a solid 3/8 for the other to achieve that same effect. The 20d ripstop (Momentum, Intrepid, whatever name you want to call it) is so thin it's hard to cut just one side of the seam allowance down, though it is doable.

How about the difficult transitions where the sleeves meed the body? I think with my skills I could manage for the seam down the length of the sleeve and the sides of the body.

And I love what you are doing, btw... I plan to some day purchase one of your down beanies.

BM

"How about the difficult transitions where the sleeves meed the body?"

I think a French Seam is easier for attaching sleeve to main body.

Sew on the sleeve with it right side out and raw edges facing out. Then turn it inside out and finish the seam hiding the raw edge inside the seam.

I always start at the shoulder and sew to the arm pit, then go back to the shoulder and sew to the arm pit on the other side. Any messiness is at the armpit where you won't see it.

Just takes practice :) Maybe play around with a bit of scrap and see how it works. If you have access to a nice enough 4 thread serger that might give you the cleanest look on the inside when attaching the arms. The Momentum has good stretch to it and is fairly easy to work with as well, so you can manipulate it around the corners. We do a lot of tight corner seams and it all turns out nicely. Unlined items can be hard to do and keep super clean especially on the inside without all the tricked out sewing machines the big gear makers have and use. Sometimes you've got to give up a big of look for the weight savings of not putting in a liner. You could also heat cut and seal just those edges if you can't get them to work out, so at least they don't fray. I've found pinking shears don't really work that well on the ripstop in both cutting and eliminating fraying either.

So who makes a good pattern for a no frills, fullzip or maybe half zip windshirt? The only extra that I would like is something with a nice collar, that I could maybe line with something soft? A thin fleece maybe? And something like a baffle to protect my neck from getting beard hairs plucked. I really, really, hate when zipper do that. I currently wearing a really cheap half zip fleece pullover that does that from time to time. I doesn't have any kind of baffle or anything behind the zipper. No pockets, maybe mesh pits, maybe not, and I would like a shock corded (or some other elastic) for the waist and cuffs.

Thanks,
BM

Thru-hiker's liberty ridge pattern is pretty good half zip pattern. It doesn't include a hood but I've made a couple and added a hood in place of the collar. If you want to cover the zip at the top you could just sew a flap of whatever material you want, or add a couple inches to one side of the pattern at the zip and sew the zipper that distance in (rather than at the edge), fold it, and stitch it down with the second topstitch over the zipper to make a full length draft flap.

The thru hiker pattern also comes with good instructions.

Edited by brendans on 02/22/2012 10:51:31 MST.