The 50p cycling trousers

Back here in a previous post I wrote about the cotton trousers I'd bought for £1 and had dyed and converted to some excellent cycling trousers. I have now done the same with the 50p pair that I bought, again from a charity shop. I have to admit that when I checked the pockets and found a used tissue I did think "Ugh.......maybe I should just throw these out and wash my hands thoroughly......." but I didn't. Please don't feel sick..........carry on reading! They were too good to lose!

I soaked them first in very hot water and soda, then washed them at 60 degrees, then hung them out in the sun to dry. My way of destroying any lingering germs! 

The trousers were from BHS, which of course don't exist any more. I would never have considered looking in their shops for trousers anyway, as I thought their clothes were pretty awful....... It just goes to show that you have to think outside the box sometimes - you might find what you're looking for in unexpected places, especially if you can alter it in some way to make it just what you want.

These were the trousers before dyeing -

I dyed them a dark blue. As expected, the thread, being synthetic, didn't dye. I added a zip to one pocket, which was much trickier with this pair because having no zip fly to open up the trousers, the space was harder to get to. I actually re-did it as I wasn't happy with the first attempt. Where there is a gap in the stitching on the waistband above is where I opened it up to push the zip up underneath. I have re-stitched that bit, although it's not visible - I wasn't so fussy as to bother to find matching contrasting thread. The zip still looks a bit weird, but as I said, it was hard to get to the space. 

The only suitable zip I had was one which I had unpicked from something else, and was cream. When I had finished the job I went all over the zip with blue felt pen to make it stand out slightly less! I wish I could have attached a zip to the smaller pocket as well but I could only have done it by hand and I decided not to bother.

Here you can see that I've added tapes to the trousers so that I can roll them up.

I used some twill tape that I already had - again, like the last pair, I just happened to have dyed some previously in the right colour!

This time I used Kam Snaps to attach the tapes to the right side. If you haven't some across these they are brilliant. They come in a variety of sizes and colours and are easy to attach with the tool that goes with them. My 19 month old granddaughter Lily was quite fascinated by them when I visited one day, and I showed her how they worked. They are actually quite hard to undo though, so it might be a while before she can unroll Grandma's trousers......

As with the other pair, they are wonderfully comfortable and practical. You may notice that the colour is not even - this is because after the initial required 45 minute period of regular stirring (you don't have to stir for 45 minutes! Just stir "regularly" in between doing other things) I then went away and forgot to stir them again, which has resulted in the uneven colour. 

I did actually spot another similar pair recently in another charity shop, but I resisted, as I don't really need a third pair, but it just goes to show that there are plenty of similar pairs of trousers out there dirt cheap waiting to be converted!

My best cycling trousers - from the one pound rail in a charity shop.

I have discovered I am not the only one scouring the internet for the ideal cycling trousers. If you are interested in reading what others have to say on the subject, then have a look at this article "What would your ideal cycle touring clothing collection look like?" on Tom Allen's website, Tom's Bike Trip.

I have looked at so many websites, both general outdoor ones and cycling specific ones, to see if someone makes what I'm looking for, but it seems they don't. I have several pairs of Craghoppers bought in sales, and one pair of zip-offs bought in a charity shop, and that is what I tend to wear on the bike once the weather gets warm, either rolled up or zipped off, but none of them are ideal.

I thought surely I could make some, but I haven't yet found the right pattern. I have a couple of trouser patterns, one of which I tried recently, but unfortunately I made alterations which didn't work, so I'm back to the drawing board.

However, I recently found a pair of M and S cotton trousers on the £1 rail in a local charity shop. I tried them on and they fitted perfectly, so I paid my pound and then walked down to a neighbouring DIY shop (the wonderful sort that sells EVERYTHING!) and bought some olive green dye (the hand dyeing sort) as the trousers were lavender.......

The dyeing necessitated a lot of stirring in a bucket, but was very successful. I then went on to add a zip to one of the pockets for added security, and some tapes to keep the legs in place when rolled up.


Here they are - the lavender tape didn't dye so it must be made of a 100% synthetic fibre. Doesn't matter too much as it won't be seen anyway.

Here's the zip: I didn't have a matching colour amongst my stash of zips so went for a contrast. I'd seen this idea on Youtube and it was easy to do. I find it invaluable to have at least one secure pocket when cycling.

I happened to have some twill tape that I had dyed in the same colour. I stitched it to the inside of the trousers and then stitched some loops in the opposite place on the outside - that was quicker than bothering with buttons and buttonholes and does just as good a job, plus I wanted to wear these the next day!

I did have a look on the M and S website to see if they still do this style, but I couldn't see any trousers resembling them. It didn't matter that they were a short length as I will be "mostly wearing" (remember that chap in The Fast Show - "This month I will be mostly wearing - a thong"? ) them rolled up.

So what's so perfect about these trousers for summer cycling? 

1 They are REALLY comfortable to wear. The 100% cotton fabric is excellent - it's particularly smooth which makes it very cool and also I think means it moves on the legs easily when pedalling. It's a cooler fabric than the cotton mix of my Craghoppers.

2  The part elasticated/part tied waist is very comfortable, and also is not too low. I hate wearing trousers with very low waists and on a bike they're a definite no-no.

3 They are not too wide and not too narrow.

4 They look fine (in my opinion!) both on and off the bike.

I feel like writing to M and S and saying - please make these again! Or better still working with a cycle clothing manufacturer and getting them to produce a cyclists' version. All they really need is perhaps some extra strength in the seat area and the addition of a secure pocket! I don't think M and S would be that interested though..... and actually I rarely buy any new clothing these days. There is so much choice in the charity shops. (And that's a whole subject for debate - just why is there so much clothing being given to charity shops?)

Anyway, I thought I would keep a lookout for this particular style in the charity shops, or anything similar, and would you believe I have found a very similar 3/4 length BHS pair for the grand sum of 50p!! I bought some more dye this morning as these are a rather bright blue - I've bought "Jeans Blue".

I'm going to attempt to draw up a pattern from the M and S ones; I've seen it done on Youtube without taking them apart so will have a go. 

That's all for now.

Lizzie