Thursday, July 7, 2011

Rainwear in the Forecast

In September, I'm participating in presenting a program for Creative Clothing Club.   The subject is "rainwear".  We'll be exploring raincoat fabrics, patterns, construction, closures, seam sealants, spray on water repellents, etc.  Coats, ponchos, umbrellas and anything connected with staying dry.  If anyone has ideas,  I would love your input.

The first thing I'm making is a rain poncho.  This pattern is from Indygo Junction. Very easy, lined, hood, snaps.

I ordered a laminated cotton from Fabric.com and bought a bright cotton for lining.  The laminate came rolled, which I appreciated because folding would cause creases that would be difficult, if not impossible, to remove.  The laminate is stiff but pliable. 



This book has a lot of good information for all outerwear.


And, Threads #148 has a good article on rainwear.




AmyButler has a line of laminated cottons, and good tips on how to sew them on her website. 

My Designer group asked me to give a workshop on Kanzashi flowers.  I don't mind, but I just started learning how to make them, myself.  I've made a couple of other samples,  and photographed the sequence so I can print the pictures for instructions.  Here are the samples I made this week.  I'm going to have quite a little garden!  I wish I was as successful growing them outside!




Now, I have to take my husband to the Doctor to get the 26 stitches out of his arm , where he fell in a boat and cut his arm down to the bone.  Ouch!

20 Talk to me:

Sheila said...

Oh My that was definitely a nasty fall and hope he is feeling much better.

I wish I had some helpful suggestions, but that workshop will be fun and your fabric selection is pretty. Looking forward to reading about it later on.

LoL @ you're going to have quite a little garden. The Kanzashi flowers are too cute and a great way to use up scrap fabric.

Mary Beth said...

Ohhh, timely post, Gwen. People will be wanting rain gear very soon, 'cause don't you know that summer is the shortest season of the year? And they will neeeeed these books to get them going. :)

KID, MD said...

You're doing some fun things! I'm looking forward to seeing the poncho. The fabrics you selected are great.
I hope dh has an uneventful recovery and doesn't whine at you too much. :)

shams said...

Oh! Oh! Oh! I've been eyeing that pattern, ever since I bought some laminated fabric on fabric.com. My roll is sitting here, calling to me, but I have too much other sewing to do first. :)

That book looks interesting - I hadn't heard of it. Please keep us posted, this sounds like a great project!

And I'm sure your husband is on the mend, but OUCH!!!

Anna Christina said...

What kind of a group is a designer group and
where did you find it. I have always wished I could find a group of local women who liked to sew apparel. There are so many knitting and quilt clubs, but I have never run across much else.

Ann's Fashion Studio said...

Ouch...sure hope your husband is doing ok. Sounds like a nasty fall :(

MushyWear said...

Have fun with the Rain Wear presentation. I'm with you about growing flowers, sure wish I was talented in that area, but I'm not. Your fabric ones are a nice alternative. Sounds like a nasty cut your husband sustained. Glad to hear the stitches are coming out. He must be on the mend!

kbenco said...

26 stitches! I hope the injury has healed well.
I don't know if hiking rainwear is appropriate for your talk, but I have made a few Gortex raincoats, and posted about 2 different seam sealing methods I had used after internet searches - there is a link to each of the sealing posts in the side bar of my blog. You have probably already seen the Burberry thread at Stitcher's Guild, there were some really good links there about waterproof fabric.

Corrine said...

Hope the hubs heals well, sounds like he may have a nice souvenir of his injury! I will anxiously follow your rain wear posts. I probably wear more rain wear/rain weight coats than any other. In western Pa we have a long spring and fall rainy season, usually, and I need to make some new coats. I bought two this spring because I ran out of sewing time, but frankly, despite the designer and the price, mediocre. The poncho sounds like a great idea for me too.

Kyle said...

Oh, your poor husband. Hope he's on the mend. I'm sending him healing energy.
I'm super interested in the topic of rainwear: where to buy the fabric (thanks for the links), how it's sewn, if any special "tools" are needed. :)
Your flowers look great!!

Fran said...

What a fun project and I love your choice of fabric! I did a child's raincoat and cape in laminate for the shop and I really didn't mind working on the fabric. A teflon foot definitely helps, but on the plus side, the fabric never frays and cuts beautifully. Lots of books say not to pin, to use clips instead, but on tricky spots, I found that as long as you pin inside the SA you're okay. You have some great classes and resources where you are -- there is so little here -- envious!

MaryPat said...

Love the flowers and the pin woven bag below. I have some laminate as well so I will watch theis space for updates!
MP

The Slapdash Sewist said...

I really need to get around to blogging my Gore Tex raingear! That's all I have experience with. My recommendations are: microtex needle, tissue paper along the seamline on top of the fabric (didn't have trouble with the feed dogs), and the best way I found to mark the white underside of the Gore Tex was a ball point pen.

Bunny said...

Oh, my, I hope DH recupes without issue. That sounds like one nasty accident.

Your rainwear project is really interesting and I am looking forward to hearing more about it.

Anonymous said...

I have never thought of making rainwear so this is fun to read about. I look forward to seeing your raincoat! Love your flowers!

Oh your poor husband.
Linda T

Anonymous said...

I did rain kilts for my husband and I to hike in on the Appalachian Trail last year. I got the fabric from The Rainshed, which doesn't have prints but has serious outdoor fabric with different weights and both urethane and silicone coatings. I used a walking foot instead of a teflon and it worked fine. Also remember to seal the seams with whatever the fabric is coated with, otherwise it may not stick.
~Sabrina (slkinyon@gmail.com)

Lisette M said...

The poncho is a lot of fun and the flowers are very pretty.

Clio said...

Can't wait to hear some of your tips for rain gear. I'm always tempted to sew my own, but feel like there is just so much I don't know.

PS= I made a Kanzashi flower once, and it was MUCH more humble than your beautiful ones!

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