• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Tailoring Gore-Tex Treated Materials

BlizzardBabe

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I have a pair of bibs that fit perfectly . . . almost. I really need to shorten the legs about 1.5 inches. I don't want to cut the fabric, just fold it over on itself and sew it in place. I hope I'm making sense. The "pleat" would be about mid-calf, above the boot access zippers and below the knee. It really is the only option b/c of pockets positioned at mid-thigh.

Is there any reason I shouldn't attempt this? I can imagine it could compromise the waterproofing somewhat, but I don't think it would be serious. Any other, brighter ideas??
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
I just get the outer leg shortened like any other hem. Leave the inside gaiter alone. I can't remember buying pants that were the right length.
 

BlizzardBabe

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I don't think I can do that b/c of the zippers that widen the bottom of the pant to fit around my boots.
 

Soujan

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I've used Rainy Pass Repair to shorten a pair of bibs last year. Needed about 5 inches taken off. They did a great job but it cost you a pretty penny. They cut it above the zipper and will seal the seam. You can contact them for an estimate.
 

geargrrl

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Rainy Pass is *the*most*expensive* out there. I used to charge half of what they do for the same alterations, and feel like I was doing really well making over my base rate of $75 an hour.

Mountain Soles, Portland OR
Adventure-US Wisconsin
Rugged Thread Bend OR
Repair Lair, Duluth MN.

That being said there's no reason you can't turn up the hem or take a tuck yourself. I wouldn't worry about seam sealing; you are skiing at a resort, not climbing Everest where it's life or death. It actually takes lot of water to come inside a not sealed seam. Or you can use Seam Grip or similar to waterproof.
When I did this alteration on pants with zips, I would take it out above the zipper, or shorten the zipper at the hemline. It's not difficult to shorten a zipper. It's more like which hammer/which nail. You may run into issues with the upper and lower part of your legs being different circumference esp if you take the excess out in thigh.
 

scandium

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
If I was doing this alteration on my own clothing - I would take it from the hem and shorten the zipper as it's only 1.5"; means less faffing with the lining if they are lined, and no new seams.
 

Forum statistics

Threads
26,704
Messages
508,366
Members
9,007
Latest member
adelin_
Top