Post by Ron Kulas on Oct 29, 2013 20:14:16 GMT -6
Due to a lifestyle change I don’t have nearly as much of an insulating layer as I used to. I expected that I would be colder while on stand and I was right. The Wisconsin Bow season has been cold and windy and its still early which tells me the November all day sits are going to be tough unless I add some more cold weather clothing. Ive already invested in better quality thermal underwear but now I need to work on the mid and outer layers.
I love to make my own gear and I am sort of the anti-consumer that likes to sew so that means I get to start another project. Im not one for fashion or appearance since I hunt alone so I don’t worry about how my cold weather gear looks so long as it keeps me warm.
I stopped at a local Fleet Farm during my last bowhunt and saw they sell a lot of older military surplus from Italy, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Russia, etc at dirt cheap prices so I poked around for the beginnings of the keep warm project.
I bought a pair of German army cold weather, insulated pants lined with fleece/faux fur. They have zippers that run the full length of the legs
I also bought a Belgium quilted vest and then set about modifying/altering to fit my needs.
Since there are no belt loops in the pants I will have to wear suspenders but a bowhunter needs pockets. (lots of pockets) So I dissembled a 25 year old Tree bark jacket which is way to big now which also had a busted zipper. Then I fired up my vintage Singer slant needle sewing machine to make some pockets.
Two pockets are not enough so I took the front pockets from the jacket and added them to pants as cargo pockets.
With the pants done I turned to the vest. I hoped to make a wool mid layer vest. I looked at Grey Wolf Woolens and King of the Mountain and see I can get a wool vest for $210 to $280. I expect mine (while not nearly as nice as their stuff) to cost a lot less (I paid $8 for the Belgium army vest)
In the last 25 years we have had a heavy wool blanket that we only used to protect furniture when we moved. Otherwise it sits in a closet waiting for the next move. Its not exactly camo but its not going to be an outer layer and I would wear camo over it. Anyway, its free and heavy/good quality so it going to get repurposed.
I used the vest as the pattern to cut the panels out of the wool blanket. Then fired up the Singer again. It stitched together very well.
Then I sewed the wool vest to the army vest.
I cut the small buttons off the army vest and dug through the button box for 4 larger buttons.
I expect to wear 2 layers of upper thermal underwear and a hooded sweatshirt under this vest so I made it size large (I wear size medium) so it looks a bit big on me in this pic since Im only wearing a Tee shirt. Like I said, I wont win any style points with this gear but I expect this wool vest and the insulated pants to keep me in the stand all day rather than back at camp. I have 4 hours total into these alterations. Total cost $26. ($18 for the German pants and $8 for the Belgium vest) The rest was scrap/items I already had.
I love to make my own gear and I am sort of the anti-consumer that likes to sew so that means I get to start another project. Im not one for fashion or appearance since I hunt alone so I don’t worry about how my cold weather gear looks so long as it keeps me warm.
I stopped at a local Fleet Farm during my last bowhunt and saw they sell a lot of older military surplus from Italy, Germany, Belgium, Poland, Russia, etc at dirt cheap prices so I poked around for the beginnings of the keep warm project.
I bought a pair of German army cold weather, insulated pants lined with fleece/faux fur. They have zippers that run the full length of the legs
I also bought a Belgium quilted vest and then set about modifying/altering to fit my needs.
Since there are no belt loops in the pants I will have to wear suspenders but a bowhunter needs pockets. (lots of pockets) So I dissembled a 25 year old Tree bark jacket which is way to big now which also had a busted zipper. Then I fired up my vintage Singer slant needle sewing machine to make some pockets.
Two pockets are not enough so I took the front pockets from the jacket and added them to pants as cargo pockets.
With the pants done I turned to the vest. I hoped to make a wool mid layer vest. I looked at Grey Wolf Woolens and King of the Mountain and see I can get a wool vest for $210 to $280. I expect mine (while not nearly as nice as their stuff) to cost a lot less (I paid $8 for the Belgium army vest)
In the last 25 years we have had a heavy wool blanket that we only used to protect furniture when we moved. Otherwise it sits in a closet waiting for the next move. Its not exactly camo but its not going to be an outer layer and I would wear camo over it. Anyway, its free and heavy/good quality so it going to get repurposed.
I used the vest as the pattern to cut the panels out of the wool blanket. Then fired up the Singer again. It stitched together very well.
Then I sewed the wool vest to the army vest.
I cut the small buttons off the army vest and dug through the button box for 4 larger buttons.
I expect to wear 2 layers of upper thermal underwear and a hooded sweatshirt under this vest so I made it size large (I wear size medium) so it looks a bit big on me in this pic since Im only wearing a Tee shirt. Like I said, I wont win any style points with this gear but I expect this wool vest and the insulated pants to keep me in the stand all day rather than back at camp. I have 4 hours total into these alterations. Total cost $26. ($18 for the German pants and $8 for the Belgium vest) The rest was scrap/items I already had.