2023 Fashion on the Ration Challenge

CAFCGirl

This might be a complete farce of an idea and I confess to not knowing much about materials but my mind tells me tents are made from similar - could you look at tent repairs and see what they use for tears and rips. I'm sure there must be some kind of patching or even some gel or paint that can put over a stitch repair to strength it... perhaps even something like heat transfer vinyl?

Laura_Elsewhere

CAFCGirl said:

This might be a complete farce of an idea and I confess to not knowing much about materials but my mind tells me tents are made from similar - could you look at tent repairs and see what they use for tears and rips. I'm sure there must be some kind of patching or even some gel or paint that can put over a stitch repair to strength it... perhaps even something like heat transfer vinyl?

I only know because I had the perfect tent which eventually succumbed to UV-degradation but I tried everywhere to find out about ten flysheet repairs and once the UV has got it, they say there's no point repairing it because the edges of any patch will just 'go' after a short while, so you basically need to replace the entire flysheet once it's become UV-degraded...  

I still miss that tent... 

PollyWollyDoodle

I was able to patch the fly sheet of mine after mice had eaten it, by using a bit of old tent that my niece was discarding but the rest of it was still in quite good condition. 

The moral of this story is - pack your tent away, it had been left out to dry in the garage but I didn’t get round to putting it back in the bag. You wouldn’t think mice would find artificial fibres so attractive, but it’s happened twice 🙄 (I don’t learn, as you can see!)

weenancyinAmerica

Hi, I just use a disposable razor to de-bobble things, and work lightly over the surface. Only had to do it a couple of times though on the sweater.

skogar

Hi Pip,

The time honoured way to fix a down jacket is with a patch of duct tape! Mind you that is for in the field repairs so you can continue using miles from anywhere and will not give you the best look and duct tae patches can be difficult to remove. However there are a few options if you don't want to look like a grizzled climber.

It is possible to buy adhesive patches for outdoor wear. I think they exist for things like down jackets and gortex jackets. Normally colours are limited although I have seen colourless ones for gortex.

Some manufacturers of outdoor gear offer repair services on their products so it's always worth checking the manufaturer's website as sometimes they can be quite reasonable. Also there are a few manufacturers that do good trade in deals if you have an old garment from that company. Most manufacturers will only do repairs on their own products. Alpkit are a brand who will do repairs on other manufacturer's in their shops. There are also specialist firms that do repairs to outdoor equipment - generally not a cheap option but can be a lot cheaper than a new item if the fabric is still in good condition.

On a quick google of Uniglo I found this:

https://faq-uk.uniqlo.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/Can-you-repair-my-UNIQLO-product

The bit about down repairs is here:

"We now offer an in-store Repair Studio in our Regent Street & Battersea stores.

We are providing the following repairs to your UNIQLO products and will continue to expand this list based on your needs:

For our Down items: Tape hole - £3.00Stitch hole - £5.00Invisible patch (depending on material) - £8.00" Hope that helps.

skogar

 You should not store a down jacket or sleeping bag compressed. There are places that will do washing of down jackets and sleeping bags. If you want to do it yourself there are good instructions on the Rab and Alpkit websites.

skogar

Found the product I was thinking of - McNett's Tenacious Tape (colourless). McNett's also do the gortex patches. Widely available at outdoor shops.

PipneyJane

skogar said:

Found the product I was thinking of - McNett's Tenacious Tape (colourless). McNett's also do the gortex patches. Widely available at outdoor shops.

@skogar, you are a genius!  Thank you.  And thank you for the Uniqlo link re mending. 

- Pip

skogar

Certainly no genius Pip - more to do with the company I keep. Replacing good kit is expensive so repair, reproofing etc. is the name of the game.

Laura_Elsewhere

I've bought some brand-new clothing! I don't do that often...

6 coupons for a pair of "dungarees" aka jeans - I only wear jeans occasionally, but for quite a few years now have either worn them rolled up to mid-calf or knee, or else with leg-warmers in cold weather, because at 5'7" my height is so incredibly tall (!) that the standard British jeans don't actually fit...

Anyway finally bit the bullet and went to look on Long Tall Sally, and they do black jeans, high-waisted, long-legged, bit of stretch, decent reviews, currently reduced from £29.99 to £23.99, plus topcashback gave me an extra £2 for buying today, plus 7.35% cashback on the purchase, so all in all not too bad. And at least they'll go all the way down to my ankles and all the way up to my waist... 

Now to remember how to change my signature...