I love Carhartt work pants but I find it hard to justify spending 65 bucks on them only to trash them with paint, tar, cuts and burns within six months. And as they are now made in Mexico we no longer can use the excuse of being American made. So I opt instead to buy the $23 Dickies imitations at Wallyworld or Renny's. I try to keep a pair mildly respectable and clean for a few months but inevitably eventually I get something on them and they are relegated to the ranks of real work pants. In short time the fronts get trashed quite badly but with a bit of creativity you can give them new life and get a few more months of service out of them.
I bought some Steam-A-Seam/ Heat Bond material at the local Jo-An Fabrics to make up your own iron-on patches. Using some heavy Cordura fabric I had, I made up some suitable patches to double up the front of the legs where they wear thin. With the heat bond material between the patch and the pants, hit it with the iron on the Cotton setting and presto ...... 14 $ spent on materials and I mended five pairs of pants this way. Now that's what I call recycling.
A few months back I did the same thing but used instead some iron on heat seal dry-bag nylon I bought a few years ago from Seattle Fabrics to make airbags for my home built kayaks. So far they have held well needing only an occasional hit with a hot iron where the edge seam may peel off a bit after a wash. These also have the advantage of being waterproof so in bad weather or traipsing through wet brush they keep you dry. You could make your own hunting pants this way if you covered the bottom 12 inches of the leg cuff. You'd pay $120 at Beans or Cabelas for nylon front hunting pants like these. Note the pocket reinforcements as well.
A common issue for us that carry a clip on type knife is the pocket seam soon frays and tears open.. A quick double with the same patch reinforces the weak spot.
Well done!
ReplyDelete