I have a question about attaching the insulation to the fabric. I don’t have an overcast stitch on my machine so have always just pinned the heck out of the materials when I have done this before. The directions state I can try to zig-zag the insulation. Does this mean I should try to zig-zag the insulation before I try to attach the back material to it or does this mean to attach them both at the same time? This is probably obvious to anyone else but I don’t want to screw this up. Thanks.

Hi Shelly-

Start by attaching the insulation to the panel fabric just as you always do: by pinning and running the straight stitch around the perimeter.

After it is all attached, you can run a zig-zag down the seam allowance to flatten out the insulation or you can omit the zig-zagging if you want.  Overcast works well because it flattens out that seam allowance.  Zig zag works OK, maybe more trouble than it’s worth.

IMO, it’s not worth the bother of a zig-zag stitch.  Just a straight line of stitching will work, especially if you have a bit of experience with multi-layer items.  Just be careful with the allowances and pin more than you think you need to (that goes for every project I’ve ever tried).

Thanks for the tips. It seemed as though it would be hard to zig-zag so I probably won’t go for that option. It might work to make one more pass with a straight stitch closer to the outside edge, just to flatten it out a bit. Great to have you all to help with these things, before I screw them up with unclear thinking!
Shelly

Oops. I forgot to ask one more question. I am looking at the insulation out of the box and see that there is a fabric on the outside of the insulation. Is that fabric supposed to be sewn into the vest or is that simply a protective cover for the insulation until it gets sewn into the vest. I imagine this is clear to other folks but me, not clear.
Thanks again.

Hi Shelly.  The thin gossamer type layer is ‘nonwoven carrier scrim’, commonly just called ‘scrim’.  It’s used to keep the layers of insulation from sticking to each other on the roll, to keep the insulation from stretching in machinery, to increase the downproofness of marginal fabrics, etc.

For your project it can be omitted as it weighs about four tenths of an ounce per square yard.

Thanks Ayce. Once again, you saved the day!

Do you sell seam ripper sharpeners?

This first trip down zipper lane has been “challenging”.  The el-cheapo zipper foot made a mess.  But that was fixable with a better steel zipper foot.

Putting the zipper in wrong side out, and wrong side left/right has me pulling my hair out, or what’s left of my hair.  Oh well, live and learn.

If you do have a tiny sharpening stone, please advise, because my seam ripper and I are going to be enjoying some quality time together…..

Sounds like a dog tangling with a porcupine; next time around you’ll get the better of it and not a mouth full of quills.

Did you see the pix floating around the internet of the dog that did just that?  It was awful!!!

3 steps forward 2 1/2 steps back. 

Ripped it all out, put it in the right way, moving on…  Just finished the French seam on one side.  Will probably rip it out and redo.  Man!  That’s a lot of layers, and 1/8 inch ain’t much. 

The other side is sewed, but not Frenched.

It fits!!! Hallelujah! 

Other than all the extra needle holes, and the bunching here and there, and the crooked seams, and the threads poking out where they aren’t supposed to poke out, it looks pretty good if I do say so myself.  And I do say so myself!  I won’t be wearing it to the New Year’s Eve Ball, but it will definitely match my hiking clothes after a few days in the dirt and ashes.

Done!!!

AYCE - 07 April 2008 11:08 AM

Hi Shelly-

Start by attaching the insulation to the panel fabric just as you always do: by pinning and running the straight stitch around the perimeter.

Ayce,
I got lucky and found an overcast machine where I did manage to run a tidy seam around all the insulation and liner pieces. When I got to the collar part I didn’t see any specific mention of how to address the collar so I just treated this in the same way. Was this correct? Both my Mom and I read the directions and didn’t see any mention of how to do this so before I move on to the next step I was just wondering.

Congratulations on escaping the fire. I know how scary this can be as we are seeing our friends homes threatened both north and south of where I live in Santa Cruz. So far no fire right near us.
Shelly

Hi Shelly-

I had heard about those fires near Santa Cruz and was wondering how you were making out.  Scary stuff, and I’m glad to hear you weren’t affected.  I feel a great deal of compassion for the poor folks who have been impacted by wildfires.

RE overcasting:  Overcasting the collar would work fine.  The overcast works to prevent fraying (if you don’t sear), and also helps to flatten out the layers of fabric and insulation of the seam allowance which can make feeding pieces through the machine for later operations easier.  But even without an overcast as long as you sear and work carefully everything turns out fine.

Ok, I just finished sewing the Minima Vest.  Having sewed the Liberty Ridge Shell and Pants, the Minima Vest really was not that difficult.  Quite a few inversions of the vest for the seams but got the hang of it.  The final product (picture attached) with 1.1 ripstop and .4” primaloft sport weighed in at 5.0 oz (142 grams).  The medium size is a perfect and comfortable fit for me.