[Theresa]

This is a great topic. Marion, thank you for sharing Peak’s Fabric online site. @scglobe, thank you for Nancy’s notion site for this material as well. Now I can keep my Grandbabies warm.

[Anonymous]

A couple more sources for high performance fabrics:

http://www.seattlefabrics.com/

http://www.rockywoods.com/

I’ve purchased from like both of these companies. You can usually get sample swatches to make sure you like the fabric first. Rockywoods is local for me, so I’m spoiled.

[Sarvi]

I just recently ordered from Rockywoods and loved them, lucky you!

[Anonymous]

Oh, let me know if you ever want me to check out any fabric in person for you, Sarvi. They don’t have a regular retail store. It’s kind of like an old auto parts store where you go up to a desk and ask for what you want. If I go in and ask them, they’ll bring out things for me to look at. They are very nice.

[kgiff]

Excellent resources everyone. Thank you!

[juliamom2009]

Every time someone asks me about fleece, I always give the same answer – the old Malden Mills – now this website: http://www.millyardage.com/ for yardage. That’s what I used to make my daughter a hooded sweatshirt from the raglan shirt pattern recently – I used Polartec 100 weight which I got at a ridiculous sale for $2.25/yard. I definitely would give leggings a try with that weight. Or, you could try the Power Stretch for more give. Their fabric is amazing and they have all the weights you would ever want. I found an old sweatshirt that I made for my now 25 year old daughter – I put it on Julia (my 5 year old) and it’s as perfect and soft as ever. In fact, my daughter asked me if it was made from a sheep!

[aprilshowers]

Funny that I just ran across this thread since I had the same question (in my head, not actually posted) about a month ago! I had some thick inexpensive Joann’s fleece leftover from a Halloween costume so I made up some Playtime Leggings for my cozy-loving 5yo. They came out great and she absolutely loves them but they are pilling like the dickens. Fine for under other clothing or casual playtime but I won’t use this particular fleece for an “outfit” in the future. But since my daughter spends 90% of her time in a dress and tights/leggings and we live somewhere where it gets cold cold cold for over 1/3 of the year I’ll definitely be tracking down some higher-quality fleece and making more for her. This pattern was perfect with the fleece, though since the fabric is thick they fit a little more snuggly than I find most oliver + s patterns do on my kid.

It’s hard to get a good photo of leggings but this should give you an idea and you can already see some of the pilling (this was the third time she wore them):

[Cellisttoo]

Figure skating pants are made out of polartech powerstretch fleece. You can get the fleece with a smooth face and a fleecy face. You put the smooth face out. I was wondering if the best finish would be with serging, since I don’t have a serger (maybe I need one).

I actually just bought some of this fabric at SR Harris, in Minneapolis/St. Paul, for $7.99 per yard (great deal!). If you don’t live in Minnesota, this site http://www.millyardage.com/default.asp has pretty good prices and if you sign up for the email list they have coupons about once each quarter. Also if you buy 5 yards or more you get 20% off. Shipping is kind of expensive, but it still works out to a really good deal, especially if you can get seconds.

The fabric wears really well for the figure skating pants. It does pill some on the inside, but the outside always looks smooth. When the fabric gets cuts in it (common when you are doing a sport with knives on your feet) they never really show because of the nature of the fabric- stretchy/fleecy.

I am really curious about how I could sew these pants together. I have a stretch stitch function on my sewing machine, but it seems to pucker some. I have 5 yards to use up!!!