From polarfleece@fern.com ========================================= Here is the faq you requested. A compendium of several posts I've made... Finding the right side: On prints, the "best looking side" On solids: windbloc: side that water beads on thinner side when looking at cut edge wash and examine for better looking side rough it up by rubbing both sides vigorously Cutting: use a with-nap layout I prefer to cut single layers at a time with thicker or windbloc Pressing: don't, unless you really *must* during construction -- then steam with an iron above the fleece and finger press Washing: inside out, zippers and other closures fastened Stitch length: usually 7-9 stitches per inch (3-3.5 mm) Needle sizes: light fleece: 70/10 or 70/11 medium weight: 80/12 or 90/14 heavy: 100/16 Use the smallest size universal, stretch or ballpoint needle that will go through the fleece. Serger: 3/4 thread seam, supplemented with a straight stitch from a conventional machine if you need extra strength. Narrow the seam as much as possible if your serger lets you. Serger or sewing machine: LOTS of lint! Clean and reoil often. Skipped stitches: try a new needle or a larger needle, or switch to a very narrow zigzag, 3-4 mm long, 0.5-1 mm wide. Rippled or distorted seams: longer stitch, lighter presser foot pressure, change serger differential, sew with 5/8" allowance, trim to 1/4" Shifting layers: longer stitch, lighter presser foot pressure, walking or roller feet, sewing with 5/8 seam allowance, then trimming to 1/4" Distorted zippers: lay fabric and zipper tape flat on a table to position; use water soluble basting tape instead of pins, lighter presser foot pressure, possibly switch to regular foot instead of zipper foot. Don't stretch anything to fit! Trims: Ultrasuede: usually sews better with a stretch needle; fussier than fleece. Lycra trim: stretch needle Turning corners: take *2* diagonal stitches instead of the usual one. ------------------- Subject: Polarfleece/Polartec/Windbloc/PowerStretch/Thermal Stretch The following information is summarized from a 1994 Malden Mills pamphlet entitled "Cool Stuff to Know About Polartec Fabrics". MM address is 46 Stafford St, Lawrence,MA 01841 508 685 6341 (don't know if that's the current phone number). I've added my own parenthetical comments. WHAT IS THIS STUFF? All of them are basically knitted polyester fleece, with other materials like Lycra, cotton, wool, nylon and rayon added to some fabrics to give specific performance characteristics. In 1979, Malden Mills made some fabric for Patagonia, one of the best of the outdoor clothing companies... PolarFleece and PolarTec were both developed from that initial fabric for Patagonia. Malden Mills marketing department kept coming up with names for each new improvement, so for awhile, there was PolarFleece, replaced by PolarTec, replaced by Polarlite -- and finally they stopped the madness and decided to call all of their newer fabrics Polartec. WHY WOULD I WANT IT? (This is Kay talking here, not Malden Mills: this fleece is very light weight, very warm if you've got a windshell on over it or a garment made of Windbloc, reasonably cool if you leave the jacket unzipped but still on, has a nice drape and yummy texture, doesn't soak up water (and if it gets wet, you can wring it out and put it back on... it'll still be warm, even damp!). It doesn't mold, mildew, or smell funky after being in any reasonable storage. When you want to wash it, toss in the washer and dryer. With certain products, or with factory surface treatments, it can be anything from water repellent to close to water proof (I've even stayed dry in a midwestern frogdrowner rainstorm, but did get wet when a couple of buddies tossed me in a lake with a Polartec jacket on. ) HOW DO I TAKE CARE OF IT? Easy: Machine or handwash cool; hang dry or toss it in a cool dryer for a few minutes, then finish drying on a hanger or clothesline. No special detergents required: I usually use a small amount of Tide (Kay talking again). Malden Mills prefers you to use powdered rather than liquid detergents. HOW DOES IT COME: There are several basic product lines: Series 100: suitable for shirts, long underwear, etc. Many of the series 100 products are specifically fast-wicking (to keep your skin dry) and antimicrobial (nice if you're bathless for 10 days in the desert, as I have been when doing field work (yes, this is Kay again)). Series 200: suitable for "sweatshirts", light jackets, pants (some of the equestrians swear by Polartec riding pants --Kay), indoor weight warm things. This is the general purpose weight. Series 300: seriously warm stuff for outerwear. (A series 300 jacket with a windshell has kept me warm in Iowa winters. --Kay) Recycled Series: (All I've seen here has been in the 200 series, but there may be other weights made --Kay). The polyester for this series comes from recycled PET plastic sodapop bottles. (I can't tell this from the "virgin polyester" 200 series-- same weight, drape, etc., but the colors tend to be a bit more muted.) Same uses as similar Series 200. Windbloc Series: Two layers of fleece with an inner membrane that keeps wind from blowing through. The outer layer is water repellant, the inner layer wicks moisture away from the body. The inner membrane is porous to water vapor, so you have a windproof jacket that you don't steam to death in. (More expensive than the usual 200/300, but worth it because of the comfort and simplified jacket construction. Consider putting in pitzips or mesh pockets with vents in if you're going to be using a jacket of Windbloc for strenuous activities.) PowerStretch: A 4-way stretch fabric with a nylon outer layer (resists abrasion and pilling) and a fast wicking inner thermal layer. Great for underwear for kayaking or canoeing, or inner layer for scuba, or outer layer for skiing. Not water repellant. ThermalStretch: Water repellant fleece fabric developed for scuba diving; neutral boyancy, easier into and out of than standard neoprene suits. Also good for jackets and pants where you're likely to get wet... canoeing, kayaking, sailing. XT: Fabric made for cross-training. Polyester inner layer wicks away perspiration, cotton outer layer traps it. BiPolar Technology: This is not a single line of fabrics, but the terminology Malden Mills uses to designate that the inner and outer face of the fabric have different wicking characteristics, knit construction, etc.... helps keep you comfortable. PowerStretch and Windbloc are two of the "BiPolar" fabrics. Microfiber: Refers to using extremely fine and silky fibers in a fabric... Malden Mills says they use fiber so fine that a fiber 27 miles long would weigh about the same as a teaspoon of water (5 grams). Very nice hand and drape, very little weight for the amount of warmth, not quite as breathable as a "regular series 100" fabric. Great for "chamois shirts" -- warmer than cotton chamois cloth, a little stretchy, weighs next to nothing and washes well. NEW PRODUCTS: (Kay again: Seems like I bump into new products in the Malden Mills Polartec family at least a couple of times a year -- the latest being a sculptured pile 200 weight. There are also prints on all weights, and who knows what else is coming out next... just keep an eye out and ask what it's for -- Malden Mills has also been wonderful about answering all of my (sometimes dumb) questions.) SEWING WITH ANY OF THESE: (Kay again: Easy as pie. Straight stitching or any stretch stitch work well, as does serging. Because it's bulky, try to eliminate as much bulk as possible: Topstitching tends to sink into the pile and disappear, so don't bother unless you really have to. You may find using some stabilizer like Solvy or a layer of tissue paper on both sides will keep topstitching a little more even. I like the squares of paper bakeries use for picking up cookies for stabilizing. Polartec does not fray, so you can leave the edges unbound if you want (try pinking), though a binding with a thin strip of nylon lycra, about the weight of swimming suit fabric, is more usual. Buttonholes are not easy -- a simple stitched rectangular box with a scrap of Ultrasuede behind it is the best I've been able to manage -- I prefer zippers, velcro, button and loop or frog closures. Snaps are generally a disaster. (Note from Jennifer - I used snaps on a fleece top that I made for my baby daughter, and they worked fine.) I use plain old polyester thread for construction: Gutermann or Metrosene are my preferred choices. Dual Duty and similar cotton-covered polyesters seem to be a poor choice. Ultrasuede makes a good decorative touch on Polartec, since it has the same care characteristics, and it will stabilize a too-stretchy edge. Just about any sort of pocket works in Polartec, including welt and patch pockets. I prefer to use the microchamois or a mesh or a good woven poly or nylon for inner pocketing to reduce bulk. Grosgrain ribbon is another good edge stabilizer-- also a nice touch to cover the back side of zipper tapes. Zippers, grosgrain, and any other shrinkable materials should go through the washer and dryer on hot a couple of times to get all the shrinkage out before they're used in construction. I use nylon ribbing or nylon-lycra as collar and cuffs on outerwear, and usually use cotton-lycra (leotard weight) on indoor clothes. Cotton-lycra will wear faster than nylon-lycra or nylon ribbing, but it's very easy to replace (had to do it on a 5 year old "sweatshirt" that gets worn all the time). I have not yet managed to wear out any Polarfleece garments, some of which date back to 1986, though the surface becomes sort of "clumpy shearling lamb" texture with repeated washings, and I've had to replace an ultrasuede kneepatch on a pair of gardening pants, thanks to an accident with clippers. ------------ On Fri, 9 Oct 1998, Carol A. Jordan wrote: > 1. Anything special I should know about putting in a separating > zipper? No, it's pretty straightforward. If you happen to have some "wondertape" (a narrow doublestick tape), it makes it really easy to position the tape on the fleece, and there's no need to worry about pins. My general anorak/jacket pattern uses 1/4" seam allowances, and a zip-through collar, so here's how I do it: 1. Put front pockets and anything else you can do easily flat into the jacket front and back. 2. Sew shoulder seams 3. Sew collar (this is a single wide piece, and you fold it in half to make the facing). Be sure to chalk in the fold line on the collar. 4. Measure the jacket front from hem to center of collar (the fold line) to determine length of zipper. Measuring from the bottom of the teeth, mark the same measurement on the zipper, and chalk another mark on the tape 1/4" shorter. 5. On the rightside of the zipper, put a strip of wondertape the length of each zipper tape, right at the outside edge of the zipper tape. Strip the paper off the wondertape on one side of the zipper, and stick the zipper down, rightside of zipper to rightside of fabric. Stitch the zipper, using a 1/4" seam allowance, and stopping at that mark you placed 1/4" below the fold line. Repeat this process with the other side of the zipper. 6. Open the zipper and fold the extending zipper tape to the outside diagonally. Carefully finish the stitching to the fold -- you may have to sort of skipstitch over a zipper tooth. Trim the overhanging extra zipper length. 7. Finish sewing in the collar facing to the zipper tape, scooching the inside center front seam about 1/16" over (away from the teeth). I usually finish this seam by hand, but you can "stitch in the ditch. The original instructions I had for this application didn't mention the "scooch" in #7... I found that I had problems (esp. with Polartec 300) with the zipper teeth grabbing some of the pile, so I invented the scooch maneuver. --------------------------- Anyhow, this sounds very complicated, but it really isn't. If you want the really easy method, try my "mistake": I once was very much asleep at the switch when I was turning a long anorak into a jacket pattern... forgot to add seam allowances at center front for the zipper, so I wrapped the cut edges with lycra, then put the zipper on the inside, just a plain flat application. Finally, I used a piece of striped ribbon over the zipper tape on the inside so it wasn't so "plain jane". I get lots of compliments on my mistake. ;-) > 2. Can't I use a neat woven cotton for a facing on the zipper and > neckline? It won't be very large, but will add some zip to a plain > blue jacket. Cotton will stay wet longer than polarfleece will, so I tend to use poly grosgrain ribbon or ultrasuede to jazz up polarfleece. I like the feel of polarfleece on a turned-up collar, so I tend to use microchamois for that. Kay Lancaster kay@fern.com