Look What Arrived Today...

Some of you may remember a previous post about a windshirt. I know I've gone a bit quiet about it but I have been doing some stuff behind the scenes. Above is a selection of colours of Pertex Quantum which was kindly donated by Rab. So thanks to Jane who organised it and posted them up to me. 

She did qualify this with "[the] cuttings of 24” in the warp direction which will make pattern cutting tricky (particularly for back and front panel pieces) and would require some creative sewing together of lengths to get enough for construction." I don't really knows what that means but we have fabric! Nice colours as well. (No orange though Sandy)

I have a friend who knows someone who works at a local college that teaches textile design which includes construction. I am being patient at the moment for news of a prospective candidate. Also, I'm being patient because my drawing/sketching is poor and I'm not happy that what I imagine is how it looks on paper. 

I have been incredibly sad and have been found in local outdoor shop checking out hoods and the construction of different garments. I think I'll probably be banned soon. I think the hood is the thing that's baffling me the most. Wind shirt material is so thin. How can it be given strength so that it doesn't sound like you have a Morrisons bag on your head? Different type of material or double it up? Any more suggestions or thoughts stick them down below.

Well another step forward and we'll see where it goes from here.

The Perfect Windshirt.

Earlier on this evening there was a bit of a twittersation on the merits of different windshirts and the pro’s and con’s of different features. It mentioned mods made to improve certain bits of kit and the fear of making the first incision.

The way I see it with the amount of experience among those chatting the perfect windshirt could be born. I have thought in the past about features required to make the perfect item. I have put pencil to paper before and it’ll probably go no further than that. I’m definitely not a product designer but I know what works for me and I know what doesn’t. There are features that I like but they don’t feature on the same bit of kit, is there reasons for that? What if we were able to build/design a garment that actually works for outdoors people.

What features would it have? What material would it be made of? Hybrid panelling? How many pockets? What weight would it need to be? Thumb-loops or velcro cuffs? Or both??

So what’s the plan? Well, lets throw all the features in the hat come up with a design and see where it goes. I may know and a man who knows man who has an uncle, to coin a phrase. And if that doesn’t work then why can’t we take it to the big guys, I’m sure they have plenty spare time for a project?!?

I’m sure the design can be produced better than doing it on an etch-a-sketch but if we design it…



So lets make a list, what do you want to see? Comments required.

Can’t wait to hear what the thoughts are, Davy