A burning ember has melted a small hole in the arm of my prized Berghaus polartec fleece.

Anyone have any advice on the best way to fix the hole to maintain the wind and showerproofness of it?

I would be very grateful.

Thanks

Cathy

If its just a small hole then can you not just put up with it?
I think anyway you did try to fix it,it would stand out just as bad as it does now.
Not 100% sure if you could get hold of any windstopper or windbloc patches (presuming it is made out of one of these?), although there are manufacturers out there that sell polartec fabrics. Someone else on OM may be able to point you in that direction.

If the hole really gets on your nerves then the best bet may be just to save up and buy a new fleece.

I had a bit of chewing gum get matted into a polartec 200 fleece, got it out but it took a big chunk of fabric with it, I've given up on trying to fig it.

Just put a patch of some random fabric on it and pretend it's the result of some seriously hard climbing accident.

I seem to remember that the reason windbloc isn't "waterproof" is that the seams can't be sealed so whatever you do it's unlikely to either look natural or be as waterproof.

If it's in the right spot you could just sow a zip in and pretend it's a pocket.

It is just a regular polartec 200 thermal pro Berghaus Activity fleece, not windbloc, but obviously keeps the wind and the rain out better than a hole. It is not a huge hole, but is visible, it is on the inside of the sleeve just above the cuff. I only bought it a few months ago.

I just wondered if the best way to fix it was to sew a patch of fleece under the hole or if there was some clever way of doing it.

It seems a bit of a waste of time having a fleece jacket with draw cords and storm proof zips only to have a hole, or a badly stiched patch in the sleeve.

Not being a seamstress I just wondered if there were any tricks to sewing or glueing fleece to maintain the water repellency, but it seems as if my quest for fire has knackered my best fleece ...

Depends how big it is. The ember will have melted the fleece, so the hole shouldn't get any bigger, as the edges have been sealed.

If the hole os small (<5mm) you might be able to pull it closed by sewing from the indes, pulling the sides of the hole together. This will cause some puckering that will disturb the look of the jacket.

Since it's on the inside of the sleeve, it shouldn't be too visible. But then it won't let in that much air, either...

Experiment with a couple of stitches, and see how it looks. You can always take the stitches out if you're not happy with it.

As a gear freak, I understand the disappointment of lovely kit getting damaged, but that's what's going to happen eventually...

Embers are a problem for all modern synthetic clothing, so be careful when you're doing Ray Mears stuff...

As capt. p says, sewing up the hole will pull the edges together and may be noticeable.

I've used copydex to glue a patch onto fabric and produced a near to invisible result. Copydex will survive washing but does make the fabric a bit stiff. I haven't tried it on fleece but it should work OK. Would suggest you get hold of a matching piece - easier said than done - cut it slightly bigger than the hole and glue it to the wrong side.

Fabrics farely cheap, 12.50 for 1m x 150cm

http://www.pointnorth.co.uk/shop_product.asp?product_id=17

Tempted to buy myself enough for a nice blanket.

Oh, just noticed the bit on the homepage about supplying colour swatches, would be a bit cheeky but you could try it.