Bushwalk Australia

Well it is time to start assembling
Cecile and I have sorted through the fabrics stash and it is way past time I started using this stuff.
Also when we have finished we will know what we have to sell on to others as I probably have three times the quantity of PowerStretch and ThermalPro fleece I need.
Planned garments are
PowerStretch tights with ballooned double knees
ThermalPro Long-line pullover with a hand warmer pocket
Woollen Bootleg liners for the Army battle dress trousers
Double layer woollen pull-on shirt
Woollen Pull-over parka
Extra Large pull-over windproof Anorak in either Dutch Ventile or HD Japara, single layer in Ventile or double layer in two weights of japara
Expected to take about 3 months; perhaps longer

Some explanatory photos of the natural fibre fabrics

More of the natural fabrics
I will have a lot of the worsted left afterwards if anybody else wants a traditional shirt in a very very expensive fabric, luckily for me the Op-Shop did not understand the difference between worsted and woollen and only charged me $20- for this. It would have a retail of over $35- a metre

I was just in the Op-Shop and I found a pair of well made pure woollen trousers [ I am waiting on permission to purchase ] and I was thinking that they would make a great pair of knickers.
Does anybody still wear climbing knickers?
I wore them walking and climbing in the UK but left mine as a gift for a flatmate
I remember making a pair from some old air force battledress many years ago for my first long ski tour and I was very comfortable in them.
If I cut them off about 200mm below my knees I may have enough fabric left to put a double layer over the knee area

Just as well I waited, blue tickets were half price today and the pants cost me $6-

For some reason the word "hoard" and its derivatives come to mind

"Stash"
Accumulation is the term I prefer

Fletcher Jones make really good quality trousers, this fabric looks like it is from an English mill. Quite thick and reasonably tightly woven
It has taken me oven an hour to unpick just one cuff they are so well made
The pictures are telling me I need to get out and walk more

They look rather flash for bush wear.

You should see the woollen fabric to line the matching waistcoat with; it cost the same as the pants We are looking for a Norfolk waistcoat pattern at the moment

Same thought but different track
A few years ago I found this old coat on the floor of an Op-Shop ready to be thrown away, cost me $2- from memory
I wish I had kept the label from the ripped lining as Herself has informed me that "Barneys of New York" is a really high-end fashion label and one of that cities most expensive stores
Anyway I have cut the sleeves of and we are reusing the excess fabric for an extra breast pocket [ LH side of course]and the half-belt sleeve in the back and double layer self back for extra insulation; perhaps even the dinky collar tab if I can be bothered
Cecile will help be with the pattern and I'll be lining it with some Loden-green poly/cotton [ Should really be Grenfell cloth but that is unavailable and the japara is earmarked for other projects] and I happen to have it.
When I look at this traditional garb i can see how they were really well designed to cope with gnarly weather conditions using the fabrics and technology of the times. Apart from being made with high fat heavy tweed they were also treated with soap and alum to make them hydrophobic

And when made from the good quality woollen fabrics of the time, such garments could cop levels of hard work and wear and tear that our modern UL fabrics cannot even aspire to.

A wee bit weighty when wet though.

stry wrote:
A wee bit weighty when wet though.

Hence the Alum treatment and specifying the unwashed wool for the really hard working outdoor gear
although to say unwashed isn't technically correct; more lightly washed with most of the lanolin still in the wool

I'll have to go out and buy new sewing thread, this woollen is so coarse it is cutting the LW polyester stuff I'm using as it passes though a double layer. No problem with sewing a zig-zag on a single thickness edge tho

The creation of the "Jeremiah Johnson Collection" can be expected to encounter hiccups

ROLF
I just found some HD Dark olive green cotton drill in the garage while cleaning out, perhaps that will be far more betterer for the traditional look and feel of this garment. it is windproof while the poly cotton is anything but
Reminds self to look for new Akubra with extra wide brim

Dis some more sewing today and I was so busy I forgot to take pix of all stages
I can fully understand why one of these traditional garments cost so much to buy tho; I spend 6 hours or so and had Ceciles help and I have only just got the lining finished.
HD cotton drill poachers pocket R/H rear, game pocket L/H front, small pocket L/H breast. Next comes the fitting and sewing in

Cecile has been sitting at the sewing machine over the Easter break and made me a pair of tights for skiing in good weather.
They are a trial run for the Power stretch pair in cotton/Lycra and reasonably bright

Finally started work on the woollen battledress pants. I've got fat so I needed to add 120mm to the waistline to leave enough room for a liner and winter underwear.
These are size 18 which is the biggest size made in BD, 38 to 39 inch waist and 6'1 to 6'2" [ made in 1952 so Imperial measurements

Adding in a big triangular panel at the rear and totally resewing the waistband with a polarfleece inner in place of the cold cotton drill.
Next I'll slightly bag the knees and add a Goretex patch on the outside, which will be open at the bottom so I can stuff a small CCF pad in there for kneeling on cold snow and ice
Then a set of woollen pyjamas style liners from the purple fabric because that is soft, fuzzy and an open weave

Did some more, this heavy fabric is hard on my machine and I'll need to buy some #19 needles and some upholstery thread tomorrow to finish off with.
I do wish we could afford to rebuild the big Singer but a new Sailrite wouldn't be much more expensive

Still debating on whether to use the OzCam Goretex as the knee reinforcing or simply another layer of serge as originally planned, I also have some Crye Precision Multicam NYCO which would work too and probably easier to sew than the serge.
I'm also wondering if I should line the woollen liners with some slick LW polyester mesh to make the pants faster to put on when it's really cold, the mesh is very light and ~80% holes

I am having a lot of trouble finding suitable patterns for the Eskimo parka part of the project.
I have found nothing large enough and with enough ease in the arms and shoulders.
I may have to add diamond gussets under the arms on any pattern I find if I can't find a proper Raglan sleeve pattern
It's beginning to look like I may need to draft my own patterns and that's hard but I think it may be the only way to get the room needed simply because each additional layer needs to be 100 to 120mm bigger than the layer underneath, I'll have to go to Spotlight and buy some professional tracing paper to play with

My machine is still struggling a little but I've finished the waistband part of the rebuild. Next is to unpick the legs, bag the knees and add a wear layer.
Hard work as the seam allowances were very tight, about 3mm and all were double sewn except where the belt loops are, those are sewn with 3 returns

Overlocked edges courtesy Cecile. I've been sewing all my life, and am seriously impressed at the rebuild of these pants.

Ummmm. I'm still trying to get my head around the purpose of all this sewing? The trousers are going to be functional, but, with the "v" sewn in, it will just look like you've out in weight!

And, with all the lightweight options around these days, I really can't see a situation where I've wanted a woollen pair of trou, and a waistcoat....I'm happy in winter with longjons, some sort of breathable outer trou, and some insulated trou (down/ synthetic etc) and much the same for the top half, and these options allow much more flexibility (IMHO)

Anyway, it's good that you're sewing and being productive!

A

Well it may be a dream Andrew but a "Hot tenting" trip up in the Northern Boreal is on my bucket list and so is a trip above the Arctic circle
Arctic clothing DIY
The blokes I met in America all use woollen pants for this type of camping and winter travel and they seemed to know what they were doing.

I use LW stuff here for sure but I have melted more than one garment on a hot wood fired stove over the decades

EDIT

I was thinking about making liners for these woollen pants
Here I am going though my wardrobe and I remembered I bought a pair of ultra-fine merino dress pants to turn into knickers, these being dress trousers and already half lined in the front. Bingo
I don't have to muck about making a liner; all I have to do is remove all the excess like the pockets and belt loops and I have my tailored liners.
I think I paid $6- for the pants last year

It seems that I am not going to be able to find a pattern with a raglan sleeve big enough so I am going to use a pattern I already have but I have a question on sizing up.
Looking at my M-51 and M-65 parkas I notice differences, but in both the back panel is cut much wider than the front and the excess is taken up with pleating
The pattern I have is multi size so I'll trace it out in both XL[ 48 inch chest] and XXL [ 52 inch chest] but in both there is only 4 inches of ease built in and I'm wondering if I should add the extra only to the shoulder width and pleat or to add some of the ease to the neckline? If adding some to the neckline would an inch be too little or too much?
A shirt an inch too large isn't too bad
My initial thinking is to add a half inch/20mm on the centre fold line plus 25 to 40mm in the shoulder centre.
Measuring my Fishtail parka and my L-7 over-parka I get similar dimensions and that combination fits reasonably well on any combination of underlayers I already own.
When I finish this traditional style build I will start on my Australian kit using the EPIC and other modern fabrics

I wish that I could make up my mind about the parka insulation question.

If I don't use enough I'll need an extra layer of clothing like a vest but if I use to much I will find it too warm and won't want to wear it when I should. Such a simple question about a simple subject and I'm dithering about it like an old woman trying to decide on which candy to eat first.

I also think I should sew in some inside chest pockets for somewhere to put a water bottle or spare liner gloves

Funny how things seem to work out. I just added an extra layer of thin insulation to my big arctic parka liner.
Just in the chest/torso/core section.
I was in Spotlight buying some speaker grill cloth for another project and found a scrap of thinsulate in the $1- bin, enough to do a second layer over the kidneys area
Welding the insulation together using Vilene 630 rather than sewing was so quick I forgot to take pictures.

Many years ago when I left Nuigini I was gifted a billum cap. with a fleece cap underneath it has been my fun winter skiing cap ever since but i thought is was a little under insulated for really cold weather so I just took it apart and added another layer of fleece, a layer of 90GSM Climashield and a windlayer of Goretex liner fabric and is now just on 30mm thick.
The construction using a fitted cap liner means I will not loose any insulation due to compression
Still deciding on which cord to use to hold it in place in a wind