sew my own?

[Ellen 06]

I've been looking online for bike shorts patters and fabrics. I haven't found much for chamais, either material or patterns.

Any good sources/patterns. Things to avoid?

Thanks,
Ellen

[KnottedYet]

Oh, man, there's a woman on both TE and on Bikejournal.com who sews a lot of her own stuff. I'll search around and see if I can find her for you.

[KnottedYet]

I sent you a PM.

[Trek420]

It's our very own Irulan here.

http://www.specialtyoutdoors.com/pen...ing/biking.asp

[Cari]

I used to know a really nice woman on the mtbr.com java chat program thingie (I'm talking like 6 years ago) who made her own mtb baggies. She had this little template with all the panels on the shorts outlined and with color swatches, and you could design your shorts, send her your measurements and she'd sew them for you. I can't recall her name, all I know is she was a nurse. Don't know if she still makes shorts, but maybe someone here would like to do something like that? I now wish I had ordered some, but back then all I did was take lots of spinning classes and dream about trying some real biking.

~Carissa

[Nanci]

There's someone else, too, Mary???

Nanci

[KnottedYet]

Yeah, Mary9761 is who I was thinking of.

[Trek420]

...and BikerHen, though not sure she does jerseys. Both BH & BikerChick could turn your collection of ride t'shirts into a quilt that's a work of art so bet they could do jerseys.

[miffy'sFuji]

Green Pepper has a chamois pattern, although you might be able to make your own pattern if you have a chamois that you like. I think the green pepper one uses polar fleece.

I made a jersey from the green pepper pattern and a kwik sew vest. Personally I like the fit of the kwik sew pattern. I didn't have to alter it, so it was easy since I am no expert at sewing.

I learned a lot from reading Irulan's site and from reading Mary9761s posts. Their information was invaluable.

[veloputt]

Years ago I ordered "spare" chamois from Performance Bicycle. Worked great to add into the shorts I made using the Green Pepper pattern. So they might still do that!

[mary9761]

http://sewing.patternreview.com/cgi-...patternid=2375

The link above is the pattern I use. It is a multisize pattern, but I take freezer paper and trace (shiney side down) the size I need. You may need more than one piece of freezer paper, but it makes the pattern reuseable. When you get the pieces traced and cut out, iron the pattern to your fabric then cut your pieces out.
Be sure to get good quality lycra or at least double the fabric especially for the shorts. This pattern doesn't have a chamois, but so far I don't use a chamois on my navigator since I have a comfort seat. One thing I have done so that I don't have a problem with seams, I cut out double fabric for the center section and layer them with the seam allowances facing each other. That way you have a smooth seam against your skin in the crotch.
I use the AA or XXLarge pattern and it fits me well. I have a very large bust 50DDD and it fits across my chest. The shorts I'm getting ready to actually take in or go to the next size down as I've lost weight, but that's something that can also be adjusted with elastic sizing.