Bushwalk Australia

I need some new vests.
I have some down here and a question about construction.
Assuming Cecile will help me with this as my machines won't sew UL fabrics
With only 60 grams of 850FP down is it worth while using baffles or will simple stitched through work OK?

Nup....!

Given the heat loss through lack of arms, baffles on a vest are unlikely to add much.

I think my lovely RAB Neutrino winter jackets might even be sewn through.

What about making some lovely down booties, like the Western Mountaineering calf high ones?

A

I think I need an UL vest more than booties tho.
I'm guessing that 60 grams of down isn't going to be very warm; even in 850FP
Now I'm looking for a pullover pattern with a "V" neck for better layering.
Just found out that I need a new windshirt too, it died in the wash.

Hey Moondog
If you haven't already seen it, there's some great info on size of baffles etc on
http://www.timmermade.com/sewn-through-baffle-construction-and-its-effect-on-warmth.html
http://www.timmermade.com/warmth-metrics-in-box-chamber-down-items.html
And his other blogs
And some down MYOG pullover ideas (drawcord at bottom, no zips) http://www.timmermade.com/store/c2/jackets

I still have my recycle old ripped down jacket into vest project. Never got to Remote Equipment Repair & somehow didn't see your reply until this weekend!
Cheers
Ruth

Making warm slippers and overboots instead.
A layer of cheap polarfleece bonded to heavy Vilene and a second layer of wool frieze.
Synthetics to the inside.
Overboots with a vinyl sole and two layers of our Thinsulate and some sort of insulating footbed or frost plug. Pictures tomorrow when I start sewing as today has been trial and error and pattern making.
Tired of always having cold feet in camp so I've made them big enough to be able to wear my sleep sox inside them.

These won't be as warm as Expedition down boots but they will fit my feet better

Garish yellow and black Op-Shop fabric with a surf logo but it's windproof and if needed I can do a wash of silicon around the base

In my bought booties I have inserted the soles of cheap thongs. It makes a huge difference walking around on any stones etc and would insulate. More dense than ccf which compressed to not much

Neo that is a great idea. I'll see if I can find any cheap size 12 flipflops

Headed to ALDI later to buy coffee beans, I'll look at those polyester insulated travel blankets while I am there. They might make good donour materials for booties and Cecile needs some warm winter slippers

All experimental getting the size and stiffness correct. Headed to Spotlight with The Boss sometime today to look at double sided fusible battings and other stuff.
Unlike some other warm footwear I have these woollen footbags don't feet sweaty and the others are a much better shape and fit on my feet
Multiple layers in the sole. cheap fleece bonded to polyester batting then the purple blanket then a layer of old WW1 era old grey army blanket

If I make another pair of these I'll sew on a heel counter first before assembly.
The other set are being sewn to a very different pattern that I find far more comfortable and worth the extra time and expense.
Based off the winter liner from a pair of "Crocs"
Donour fabric is an Op-Shop baby blanket that looks like it was hot washed and tumble dried as it is semi-felted. Such fabric sells for $40- a metre at Spotlight at the moment.
These will probably take me another week to finish as I am making those insulated shell over boots to go with them and I'm having some difficulty with sewing all the layers together

Coming along slowly. Much larger than I thought they would be but I can use these as the extra layer just over the foot and make some slightly smaller ones for the leg which will go inside these.

I wasn't really happy with the purple blanket booties so I just ripped them apart and resewed a little smaller while adding in a double side heel counter.
I used a Quik0Sew pattern but I didn't bother to modify to cut to make any allowance for my skinny ankles so while the foot fits there is a little too much room in the ankle area. A couple of tape loops and some shock cord will fix that and the next pair will be better. I just ordered some Vilenne HH650 from the UK to make laminating fabrics together easierJust enough room now for a sock but not the thick sleeping sox. Starting on the overboots next

I reckon they will breathe better than commercial synthetic and down bootees.

Might even be warmer, depending on how much the sole/footbed compresses.

Actually these have started to turn into a trial run for a pair of mukluks
Perple sock fits into the white over sock and I am fussing around with a Thinsulate insulated overboot with a waterproof vinyl sole
Bright yellow and black is the inner and that Royal blue will be the shell. Just cheap Op-Shop fabrics but windproof. Need to add some tabs to the white ones

I made this Goretex bivvy shell over 40 years ago when you could buy Goretex fabric retail. Last season before lockdown there was a clearance sale at ANSCO and I made the mistake of buying a cheap Vango sleeping bag that was described by Vango as a "Lightweight Overbag" needless to say that it was cut far too small to use as an overbag and apart from that the quality control on making up was abysmal. Still I only found that out after taking it apart so I couldn't return it.
I disassembled the bag and remade it to a much shorter length and doubled up the foot box insulation while making the footbox large enough to take a size 11 booted foot. This morning I finally stitched the two together to make a decent emergency half bag. Being firt generation Gore material it has great breathability and reasonable waterproofing; good enough for white season.
Insulation is cheap generic hollow fibre and from memory is 200GSM but it lofts to just on 30mm.
In the small compression sack it weighs just on a kilo, 1020 grams.
I still need to make a short tunnel and add a drawcord but that should only add 20 grams.

Did some more work on the insulated overboots.
I'm happy enough with the fudging of the pattern I used. It would be easier if I could have found a real pattern because it's been a lot of fussing around with fit, cut and fit again

More photos of progress
Next is fitting and sewing the sole on and then to cut more foam as insulation.

When I saw your first posts and pics on this project, my immediate thought was "Mukluks"

But then I remembered that mukluks are outside footwear, and now, guess what ? Telepathy

I think making traditional mukluks will be a lot easier than making these insulated overboots.
But you're right in that the blanket based slippers are trial runs for mukluk liners.
Mukluks are usually made unhanded [ or is that unfooted?] to even out wear but I need shaped footwear to feel comfortable.
An American mate has told me I should drop these purple slippers in boiling hot water, put them on and wear them until they dry out and they will shape to my feet, I have to wonder if anybody here has done this?

The hot water idea sounds plausible to me.
Could wear your preferred sock thickness then freezer bags over the top to insulate your tootsie's and stay dry during the process.

Neo wrote:The hot water idea sounds plausible to me.
Could wear your preferred sock thickness then freezer bags over the top to insulate your tootsie's and stay dry during the process.

Good idea, I might try that and report back.
I'm on a roll; I just cut out the fabric for another pair in a slightly different pattern and I'm going to be making this pair double layer, outer layer will be some of the polyester / wool gabardine.
More hard wearing and it will slow down the breeze a little bit and besides it's green plaid and really daggy.
Picture shows it pinned but I am going to take them out and make a heel counter for these too, makes them more comfortable to wear

The overboots have turned out OK but just a tad too large, well actually about 4 sizes too large.
The first time is always the hardest and the next set will be better and hopefully the correct size.
Working on the other hut slippers now.
The feed differential and stretch between the different fabrics was too great so I have used the green blend as both inner and shell and sandwiched the woollen blanket between them.
I've come across a business in Queensland that is selling small chrome tanned roo hides for $10- each and I'll be getting a few to use as soles and for Cecile to use in handbags etc.

Someone forgot to take pics with the camera so I'm sharing.

Does anybody ever add a layer of hide to the sole of an inner?
I just got a few really nice kangaroo hides delivered and these are chrome tanned so not suitable for moccasins but good for hut booties.
Beautiful leather and at $10- each I should have purchased a dozen more than I did, I'm going to use the cheap vinyl for the sole of the synthetic overboot but I thought that maybe the woollen inners would be OK for hut slippers on their own with a leather sole

Adding some leather soles to the bottoms of the white slippers. This kangaroo hide is like butter and I'm sewing it with an ordinary needle.
The camp booties are nice and warm, I was wearing them in the house for half an hour before I had to take them off as they were far too warm for inside a heated house; even tho the thermostat is set at a low 18C
Picture later as the pix taken with the phone are too large in file size

A quick 5 minute job just now. Rather than throw the worn out socks in the bin I made sock-top wristlets.

Post deleted because it was a covid project, not MYOG

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crollsurf wrote:Post deleted because it was a covid project, not MYOG

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Yeah
We've also built a deck and I am halfway through an extension to the veranda roof, no wonder materials costs are going through the roof cost-wise

Moondog55 wrote:

crollsurf wrote:Post deleted because it was a covid project, not MYOG

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Yeah
We've also built a deck and I am halfway through an extension to the veranda roof, no wonder materials costs are going through the roof cost-wise

Haha, mine was walking every bushwalk in my LGA. Lucky me living in the Ku-ring-gai, there's actually quite a bit I haven't yet walked.

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Made a couple of Mouse parachutes to add some extra snow anchorage.
Using up scraps from the stash