Laminating stretchy fleece at home?

Why would you want to do this? Fleece and heat do not go together well.

You probably could try SewFree adhesive, it's what all the big boys are using ( Arctreryx, Marmot etc) but not much on fleece. The only place to buy it retail in the world is

Penny S

You can't fuse interfacing to fleece. The heat needed to form th bond will melt the fleece. I never use it with fleece.

If you want double layered fleece, buy Windbloc or similar ready laminated stuff.

I'm trying to make a molded contoured pad for cycling shorts. I can't get the commercial pad I like in small quantities.

I'd consider other top surface fabrics; something that stretches a little and is very soft next to the skin. Coolmax?

Thanks for the SewFree lead! I'm googling it now...

Hm, didn't know that. Thanks.

I'm trying to give the laminate s adouble curved shape, which is why I think laminating it myself might help.

I'm aiming for a pad for cycling shorts, not unlike this CANARI "MicroSOFT" pad:

I like about it is that there are no seams on the surface toirritate my skin. There is a similar one (can't find a picture of itonline right now), and it has a nice "saddle" shape that helps preventbunching. Making that shape is why I'm thinking a stretch fabric wouldbe a good start, since I could maybe get it to take up a saddle shapewhile laminating it. Thanks for the quick reply!

Any other thoughts?

dianne wrote:> I'm trying to make a molded contoured pad for cycling shorts. I can't

good luck. Most commercial pads are injected molded, not something duplicated at home. Fleece has a rather low melt temperature.

I make my own chamois out of layers of ultrasuede and polartec. There are instructions on my website.

Eliminating the give is one thing I'm worried about. I hope there's something that will bond the stretch fleece (or Coolmax, or microfiber or whatever), but won't eliminate the strech.

I'm hoping there's something like a stretch knit interfacing with the sticky stuff on both sides...?

Hm, haven't seen and injection molded one yet! Got a link? That would be something.

Most of the ones I've seen appear to be laminated: a top layer of some kind of soft microfiber (often slightly stretchy, though sometimes not), a middle layer of foam (various thicknessses, sometimes molded with weld lines) and a bottom layer of what looks like interfacing to me, but it's probably something else...

I realize I'll likely have to give up some RTW features in a home-made pad (like the foam), but I think I'm *almost* there with the ones I've tried so far.

I tried bonding interfacing to the back of my microfleece without any trouble; maybe I was lucky! I don't remember the setting on the iron, but I followed the instructions on the interfacing. That pad turned out half decent, except it needed to be *just* a bit thicker, and it was dead flat -- no "saddle" shape at all. I'm thinking of making a saddle-shaped ironing ham if I get that far...

I had something similar and the two layers bunched up in uncomfortable places. Maybe it wasn't just like yours. How many layers do you use and what weight Polartec? I realize it might be presonal preference, but would you think the Ultrasuede would be optional? What does it do as a top layer that polartec can't?

Great site Penny -- I've browsed it before. You're an inspiration to me!

( been skiing all day)

look at the steam a seam line of adhesives too they might have something for stretch but I know it's not as tough as sewfree.

All I can say it hats's off to you if you want to experiment. I've often thought that there ought to be a better aftermarket chamois available than the only one out there. I assume you've seen it? Both Seattle Fabrics and MEC carry it, it resembles an overlarge maxi pad.

Probaly injection molding isn't the right terminlogy. The factory pads I've seen use any combination o the following: bonding, wicking fabrics, gel, foam, molded foam, shaped foam, channels ... and based on what I know about these things they are probably heat-set/molded in special forms. I'd kill for an aftermarket, PI pad!

Both myself and my partner in outdoors sewing have experimented lots with sewing chamois of ultrasuede and fleece. She's made some neat ones tracing off a pattern from a chamois she liked, her pattern doens't have a center seam and has better wings and she likes it a lot. Shaping and padding can be built in with layering and stitching. I chose ultrasuede, because it's very close to real chamois. Personally I think being right next to 200 weight fleece would be abrasive, but you never know.

Penny S