Episode 179: Quality Winter Apparel And Repairs

Salty and Spice discuss quality winter wear sewing and repairs. Go to Beans, Bullets, Bandages & You by clicking HERE!

Transcript

spk_0:   0:00
Hello, everybody.

spk_1:   0:01
Hello, everybody. And welcome to the show The big show, the most important and critically acclaimed. But guest is recorded in our moving vehicle. And today we're in the red studio. That's right, we're in the car. And while one of the cars and we're driving towards eagles, I'm afraid we're going to try and get some eagle pictures if we can. Usually the eagles congregate around the lock and dams in the Mississippi River. They get behind or the south the downstream side. Because it is, no matter how cold the lock and dam will break. Open some surface right below our downstream from the lock and dam, and the eagles can fish there. Sometimes you'll get 2 to 300. Eagles will see that today because it has not been that cold. But it might be

spk_0:   0:54
Maybe next week, maybe next

spk_1:   0:56
week. Yeah, but we're gonna go today. We're gonna take a look and on the way we're going to record for you. A podcast today is a, um, backwards mystery episode. We're gonna be doing a podcast on a post that she's writing that I don't even know what it's about. So she's gonna be able to take the lead on the podcast and tell me and tell you what this post is all about. And we're gonna make this an accompanying podcast with that, both so taking away by partner in crime, Miss Spice.

spk_0:   1:31
He will catch right up on this because he's actually got a part in the story.

spk_1:   1:36
Didn't do, do, do, do do do, too. That's the musical

spk_0:   1:40
when you're dressed in to go to an office or something, you dress according to social requirements and sometimes according to mood, but it doesn't really matter. And most of us have lots of choices of things we could wear shopping or two to work or whatever else shop. But if you work outside in rough weather, what you're wearing becomes a big, important deal that becomes important survival gear rather than just some clothes. Because I have had to dig cars out of ice storms, wearing work Luke close work shoes and trying the whole scrape with a credit card thing. Uh, people who say that I haven't tried it with realize storm guys. No,

spk_1:   2:26
that's light Frost. That's not actually ice.

spk_0:   2:30
Yeah, you got half an inch of ice. The only thing that credit cards used for is buying the blowtorch. But I've also tried to dig cars out of, you know, three feet of snow in good and warm, insulated, cover orm insulated cover alls and been much more comfortable doing it. It's literally true that if you have to be outside and you have to be working outside, then good boots and good outerwear can be the difference between you and injury. Between you and hypothermia

spk_1:   3:03
and by good proof boots, we start with waterproof and go from there.

spk_0:   3:10
Yeah, waterproof, at least on the lower parts of that

spk_1:   3:12
goes from lower parts

spk_0:   3:14
and water resistant all over, because if it's no, some guy is gonna get in through the top, but you want to minimize that. Well, the thing is that sort of gear, most of us don't have big piles of it sitting around in our closets. That's true. I don't know of anybody who's got 50 pairs of work boots, but I probably know some people who have 50 pairs of Wouldn't I look cute in these shoes? Not me, but people I know and good outerwear is also pretty scarce. It's fairly expensive to buy and

spk_1:   3:46
pretty expensive to buy. Yeah, yeah, pretty expensive. But you can get some of it gets secondhand stores and stuff like that. If you look hard

spk_0:   3:56
And if you are of an unusual size, it becomes even trickier to buy good outerwear. Which means

spk_1:   4:02
both of us are of an unusual size six foot three and a really big guy. I mean, it just takes like, huge, huge, tall but seeing one of my weird things in my size, I'm six foot three, but I have 30 inch legs. I've got these little bitty stumpy legs, those ridiculous torso that goes on like for. I mean, I'm 63 with 30 inch legs. Don't tell you everything you need to know about how long my spine use, which makes it nearly impossible to find clothing that fit me,

spk_0:   4:37
especially in the more niche markets, like good outerwear, really good out. There is a niche market,

spk_1:   4:43
and you know, I could find tall stuff, but it usually has 36 inch legs, 34 inch legs. I got 30 inch legs and that with regular pants and stuff like that, you can him. Those that does is really just impossible to him. A lot of the outerwear, the type that we're talking about with zippers and the legs so you could get around boots

spk_0:   5:05
and just rest with a heavy duty machine. And I am not a real seamstress. And salty is not even close.

spk_1:   5:13
And she's a five foot four slim but muscular woman. I mean, she's 115 120 somewhere in this call, £820 but at five foot four, but it's very muscular. Five £120

spk_0:   5:31
outdoors, built for guys, mostly

spk_1:   5:33
and women's stuff. Women's outerwear just doesn't fit her because she has short legs, too. The stuff that we actually found a pair of overalls. I found them. Oh my goodness, I worked a part a part time in 30 years. It's about 30 years, but it's been a good 20. It was 1996 97 somewhere in there. So, yeah, it's been a little over 20. I work there part time to make a few extra dollars as we were getting out of debt. And I, uh, found this pair of two x l boys cover alls

spk_0:   6:10
insulated cover alls insulated covering can't whatever. All this is what they look like.

spk_1:   6:14
Yeah, Key brand. But this was back when they were made in America. So, actually, good key brand. And they were They were just But they were. I mean, they were dirt Chief. I think I paid $5 for the good. It's like this is a you know, back in the nineties, a $70 pair of cover alls insulated cover alls, but they just nobody had somebody that and I think I paid $5 for them. And I asked you to bring him back, because, I mean, I work with, they're gonna bring him back if they don't fit her. Sure, she put him on and they fit her. Perfect. Perfectly, absolutely. Perfectly. This is the heavy duck material outer with the good insulated inner good, robust zipper zipper last 20 years. And we want to use 22 years.

spk_0:   7:02
Yeah, it's been. So we can I've also got a pair of boots also bought really cheap once upon a time about a decade ago.

spk_1:   7:11
Excuse me out. Dodging a debris, you're hearing some rumble. Maybe that's because I had to go into the other lane of dodge debris

spk_0:   7:17
chunks of ice knock the big blocks of snow off. Your car's poor. You go for a drive, folks,

spk_1:   7:22
Right? So

spk_0:   7:23
they're not fun. So I got a good para boots that's got good, grippy souls, and big enough that I could have warm socks underneath and tall enough and all that other stuff hard to find. Awesome will drama. It's been more than 10 years on the boots. It's been more than 20 years on the overhaul they both broke this year. How can I shovel snow if I don't have my boots and don't have my cover alls? Because literally it is that big a difference. You have got other coats. I've got other boots, but good outerwear is important when you're working outside. And

spk_1:   7:56
here's the difference between owning good outerwear and owning outerwear. Outerwear, the good out of where is worth repairing, even when it's a serious repair, like a zipper on cover alls. That's a big deal.

spk_0:   8:11
Yeah, I could not begin to do that selling job. It's a tricky job, and I've never been a good seamstress.

spk_1:   8:17
Fortunately for us, our neighbor across the street is the town's, um, seem seems person on car seems stress, she is, but she's a seems person. I actually work with her daughter and and so I see a lot of stuff. People bring it in to her daughter, and then she takes him over to her mom's house, and lots of times they'll work on them together and have some some family time while they're selling. This is what they do, and it's extra income, which is great. Um,

spk_0:   8:50
so you want a little side job for when the shit hits a little upset With what? When this stuff hits, fans think the fertile Leiser hits the fan. Yeah, you want an extra side job? It'll pay, then repair because it's, ah, relatively specialized skill. And right now, getting good outerwear is just somewhat expensive and somewhat difficult. But if things start to fall apart in a whole lot, more people are gonna be spending time outdoors. You're not just gonna be able to order what you want from Amazon and have it show up on your doorstep, right? He's gonna be

spk_1:   9:25
important now. Getting stuff. It's good stuff in good shape is hard, but she's absolutely right after the stuff. It's the van. It's just gonna be yeah, good luck with that, especially if you're not a size, medium size, large or extra large man with typical leg lengths. A typical wastes

spk_0:   9:45
or a fairly large, very large ing strong woman has a lot of stuff that will fit. Er, I'm a little

spk_1:   9:52
but a lot of size profile for extra large and women's not so much in medium and virtually nothing and small. I guess they think small women don't work or something.

spk_0:   10:03
Yeah, apparently they don't seem to think there's a whole lot of

spk_1:   10:06
love. There is probably just not a market for it. If they there's a market for it, they make it. So to be fair,

spk_0:   10:12
the markets mostly in the missus departments and they don't make good outerwear for the missus

spk_1:   10:16
department. So yes, typically, now I will. There will be a caveat thrown in here. We know that we're not talking about for snow other wear, but for actual windshield windshear warmth, small packable for fit women, they make outstanding, thank you. It's just very, very expensive. And it's and old and specialized, covered with plastered with advertisements. Yeah, I'm sure that you've seen if you've been on three b y. It all and you've seen pictures of her, you'll see her in her be loved aqua and so pony Zebra jackets a cycling jacket. Now that was what the aqua and so pony cycling team wore back in the time when Mario Cipollini was there in the early two thousands. Which should tell you the quality of this jacket. But she's been wearing this jacket almost 20 years now. Certainly 15 years and up until this year, there was never an issue with it. That's how good this jacket is. She's been wearing it for 15 years. I mean, it's good, warm, comfortable, but alas, does Zipper finally went in it.

spk_0:   11:31
So the zipper went in my good medium weight jacket and my good cover rolls, and the island started falling out of my boots, all in the space of about a month.

spk_1:   11:40
Yeah, so she was kind of pouty. She was pouting.

spk_0:   11:43
If I had actually had to be out in the cold a lot, that would have been a very bad event with those cover alls and boots being unavailable. So that's what this post is actually about. Being ready to to repair. Well, first, to get yourself good outerwear for whatever habitat you expect to find yourself in when the time comes, and a little worse than that in both directions. Frankly, because it gets a little worse sometimes and then have the means to be able to repair it

spk_1:   12:12
or have the have the means and the knowledge of who to get help from there. Up with the situation that we were in of the neighbor, I'll just call her. The neighbor was glad to help. I call that contractor you can't what was contacted and she's absolutely no problem s So we dropped off the clothing and the first thing she said, Well, this may take a little while I have to order these zippers I have most normal that a toll east, one of these efforts I'm gonna have to or

spk_0:   12:45
really long metal sturdy.

spk_1:   12:47
And there's just something that you know is used only for government. Now here's that Here's the preparation part. Now, If the's cover alls were critical to your survival, wouldn't you maybe wanna have an extra zipper that works in them?

spk_0:   13:02
Yeah, I could have gotten the zipper changed and it would look ugly, and it would take much custom, but I could have done the zipper eventually, but way better to help her do it.

spk_1:   13:13
Or or we could have, you know, if it was in the stuff hits the fan situation, and we know she. Since we know she is the person who can do this, we would be able to trade her barter at least stuff for the repair job. But

spk_0:   13:26
we don't have a zipper zipper. You're stuffed because that is something you just really cannot make in a low tech situation. A good tippers invaluable in that kind of situation. And you can't go robbing the clothes closet for somebody's fashion jacket, take a zipper often and expect it to work more than 10 minutes.

spk_1:   13:44
Right now, this on the NSA pony jacket has a completely different kind of. It's a really, really tough, strong but like Wait zipper. It's a plastic zipper, not a metal zipper.

spk_0:   13:58
Not anymore. The medals of producing

spk_1:   13:59
Wells Metals imprint. Well, it was a plastic

spk_0:   14:02
Yeah, but it was a good one that lasted for a decade. Here's the thing, though she had only one of those zippers on hand. I didn't ask which one and outerwear is common in our part of the world, and there's a lot of people working out there, and I imagine she gets her share of jobs, including this sort of stuff. But still, the zippers are a specialty. Enough item. She doesn't keep every dang thing on hand and not many copies of any of it. So it reminded us. And probably next weekend we'll go up to the Mennonite store where they sell all this stuff. Always sewing notions for practical clothing notions. If you're not a sewing person, is what they call the little bits and pieces you need, like buttons and zippers and stuff like that lace. But that's not an issue here. We're gonna pick up some extra big coat zippers, metal zipper, sturdy zippers because having those on hand, it was very easy to get those things repaired and will probably be good for us, long as I am fit enough to continue to go out where, UM, for the boots, dental flaws and big embroidery needle because it required sewing through leather. I could use the pre punched holes from the original sewing, so I didn't need a leather punch to get through it, but I wouldn't I did have to have an embroidery needle because I needed big enough strong enough thread that would actually take up to multiple So King's drying. So King's drawings freezing, thawing all sorts of abuse for years on end without breaking. And the only thing I've got that really fits that description is dental flaws. It's great stuff for sewing outerwear and camping gear, and other has to be tough repair jobs. So a packet of embroidery needles that is one cheap prep guys. Dental flaws

spk_1:   15:54
should have plenty of that, anyway,

spk_0:   15:55
by tons, because it's so dang cheap. And it's useful for so many things because it's a really tough, really water resistant, really flexible string.

spk_1:   16:04
Now you're Bridget, so they're prepared these boots once before. Actually, when you got out

spk_0:   16:08
what I bought him. Yeah, they were on these really cheap blowout sale, and I got him home and what to put him on. And I figured out why the island started coming out second time a warm on some of these guys.

spk_1:   16:19
It wasn't the leather that was bad. It was the actual island.

spk_0:   16:22
Yeah, the sewing was bad on some of the seems so at the time I got the dental floss out, and I fixed the ones that started out loose. And those are still holding strong 10 years. Yeah, but 10 years later, some of the other ones started to go, and they're the ones I had to repair this week.

spk_1:   16:39
Eventually, the leather will know when there's not much you can do about that.

spk_0:   16:42
Yeah, but it shows no sign of it yet. And they've been seeing hard use for a good long time now, so they may outlast me.

spk_1:   16:49
Now we have an article on three B y written by paranoid prepper about this. But Scotchgard is a good thing to keep around, too. Scotchgard the heck out of these boots once or twice a year. And that does help. Not only keep the water off, but it helps keep the leather from from deteriorating.

spk_0:   17:05
Yeah, And if you are out in the snow and stuff, what the Scotchgard really does is it keeps the heat of your foot, melt some of the snow on the outside. It discourages it from soaking through as it melts.

spk_1:   17:16
Right. And you can Scotchgard the overalls too, And it just doesn't way you doubt you know the heat of the your body doesn't melt and cause the overalls become wet.

spk_0:   17:26
Yeah, this this material's actually snow resistant enough. It just brushes right off. I have never had to, but I can't. But I could have, and I've got plenty of Scotch card to do it with. So that was the real theme here. First, make sure you've got the good outerwear because if you're not used to working outside and bad weather, you may not realize what an enormous difference quality makes there. I am not a closed hound. I do not pay up for clothing except good outerwear

spk_1:   17:54
and good shoes.

spk_0:   17:55
Yeah, because they make such an enormous difference. And once you've got it, have the materials to be able to repair it so you can keep it functional for a good, long time. And it will greatly improve your efficiency, comfort and maybe even safety, because these boots of the safest thing I've got to walk on ice. I could put cleats on him if I need to, But mostly they're their souls air grippy enough. I can walk on even most ice with pretty good success. I don't want to claim I'm immune to falling. That would be bad luck, but my track record is pretty good.

spk_1:   18:34
All right. Anything else you want to

spk_0:   18:35
add? No. Luke.

spk_1:   18:38
All right. We're gonna stick a fork in this episode and we'll catch you the next time. Thank you for listening. And as always, be prepared for what? Life throws at you. Maybe when new dad wanted to be prepared For what life throws at you. What do you think you looked at tackling that Works she approves were out. Bye bye.