Barbour jacket - repairing and re-waxing.

This is undoubtedly my most expensive item of clothing! I treated myself to it in 2011 and it cost £211. I love it for its style and utilitarian practicality (lots of pockets!) and the fact that's it's cotton and therefore breathable. I think it's the sort of thing that you can wear anywhere at all and you won't look out of place (not that I care much about looking out of place!!!). I can stuff it in my rucksack or bike panniers and it doesn't take up too much space and is very lightweight. It's Barbour's Amelia Flyweight although I can only find it on an American website now so it looks as if they don't do this one any more.

I've worn it and worn it but only re-waxed it once before. I decided it was time for another re-waxing (actually it was well overdue) after a very wet walk last month reduced it to this state -

The back is the worst.

When I looked it over properly I found that it also needed mending. It had a rip on the back, probably either caused by a thorn or more likely barbed wire (I do tend to crawl through barbed wire fences at times...) -

and this hole and tear on one sleeve -

and this tear on the cuff of the other sleeve. These small tears are actually just where the fabric has worn out on the crease -

For some reason unknown even to me, I decided that mending the holes and rips by stitching would be too tricky - lots of unpicking of seams involved - and so I sent off for some Stormsure glue, which I came across on this YouTube video, intending to copy the methods of mending shown there, but when the glue came I had another look at the jacket and thought - "there really isn't much unpicking involved. And I'd always rather sew than glue if possible." So, unpicker in hand, I set to work. (I'm sure the glue will come in handy for other things though).

I should add that prior to any of this I had wiped the jacket all over with a sponge and cold water (Barbour's instructions) to clean it, and also tried to get some of the creases down the front out, by ironing, using a cloth under the iron. It didn't work - I think the creases are just too old.

Creasing down the front facing

Now we have a picture of the canvas from Husband's boyhood tent. Eh? Why? Because - during our clearout prior to moving I found this ancient tent in our outhouse (been there 32 years...). I said to him - can I cut this up? In typical man fashion he rather reluctantly agreed (what else was he going to do with it????) so before he could change his mind I chopped it up and washed the bits at 60 degrees, thinking that if it was going to fall apart a good hot wash would make it do so, but it didn't, and I now have the pieces in my much-reduced-before-moving fabric stash. Anyway, this was what I used tiny pieces of behind the holes and rips in the jacket. It was just the right weight and I knew that the colour wouldn't show after stitching.

This is the rip on the back, with lining unpicked and piece of tent canvas in place -

I used strips of Steam-A-Seam to hold the patch in place. 

 The rip after mending -

I did the other mends in the same way, unpicking the lining, patching on the wrong side and then stitching on the right side. The thread by the way wasn't a perfect match, but I reckoned that by the time I'd rewaxed the jacket this wouldn't show.

Mend in cuff  -

Mend on sleeve - 

After restitching the lining, I did the re-waxing, which actually took me an hour and forty minutes......They say do it in a warm room - well the room wasn't warm and to be honest I think it would have to be JOLLY warm in order for the melted wax not to solidify pretty soon after applying it, which it did. They also say use either a cloth or a sponge; I used bits of old cloth but can see why using a sponge would be the better option, as I can see tiny bits of fluff from the old white cloth on the jacket. I think the wax might work into the fabric better with a sponge too. However, I'm pleased with the overall results, as shown below.

Mend on back

Sleeve

Cuff

After re-waxing I went over the jacket with a heat gun (we haven't got the recommended hair dryer) which evens out the wax, and then left it overnight. However in the morning I could see that there were still tiny lumps of excess wax on it, particularly at the seams, so I went over it again with the heat gun and wiped off the excess. Result!

The finished article - 

Remember the "before" picture of the back? A lot better now!

This WAS a lot of work, but well worth doing.  Here's an interesting article on Barbour's repair shop oop north.  I'd love to go there! Wonder if they do Open Days....

Lizzie

Coffeeneuring #2, and a new light for my bike.

I thought to myself the other day -

"What this bike needs......is some lights."

So, today, I got one, a very stylish back one (will look out for an equally stylish front one)  in my favourite charity shop, for a mere £2. Here's a pic of it in the rear pannier - a temporary measure of course. I think it needs fixing properly, by its nice wooden base, maybe to the rear rack.

Nice light eh? Bet you didn't know Ikea did bike lights. Only one problem - I can't find a socket on the bike to plug it in to.

Anyway, back to the Coffeeneuring 2016 challenge. Today it was tea actually. I'm very English and have coffee in the morning, and tea in the afternoon, unless I go out for an evening meal in which case I have to have coffee afterwards, preferable with something chocolatey.

The venue was Waitrose in Wantage, where of course the tea was free. This is the front of the shop and that's my blue Trek on the left. Proof that I cycled this time!

This is round the back of the shop where I sat - with my lamp!

Today I thought - what with all this stuff about drinks cups not being recyclable, I thought I'd take my lovely very-suitable-for-carrying-on-a-bike enamel cup with me (present from one of daughters) and use that. The lady in front of me had one of those re-usable cups that you can buy, but I haven't got one and couldn't see any reason not to just take any old mug and use that. However, I did not get the proper amount of tea so maybe the machine is so clever that it can detect a non-Waitrose approved vessel. Hmmmmm..... Still, it was hot and free, and I enjoyed it with a chocolate chip digestive - also taken with me! Coffeeneuring #3 might actually involve money!


A round trip of about 9 1/2 miles. Better than driving any day!

Lizzie

Coffeeneuring Challenge 2016 #1

I always enjoy cycling more when I've got a motive, whether that's the need to get somewhere and the bike is the only way of getting there, or whether it's just a lovely day and I can have a WHOLE day out - I'm not so good at getting out for shorter rides.

So I've decided to join in with this "coffeeneuring" challenge (details here, Oct. 7th to November 20th) which I came across on this (anniebikes) cycling blog I've recently started following. Basically it's about cycling and drinking coffee or tea. What's not to like?! I'm doing it as a way of making myself get out for short, but more frequent, bike rides during the next few weeks. I'll no doubt need another challenge after that to keep me going throughout the winter! It also means that when I eat that naughty something with my coffee or tea I can at least say "Well I've just used enough calories cycling here to justify it!"

This morning's trip, then, was down to a nearby lake at Baulking, which was until a few years ago a fuller's earth mine. I made coffee in my insulated Thermos cup and took it with me, along with a chocolate Hob Nob - currently on offer in Sainsbury's. I've never used the cup much so didn't know how well it would retain the heat. [NB - we did not choose this awful grey/green Formica! Or the tiles. Or the cupboards. But still, I can put up with them. Just.]

When the mining operation was closed down they planted lots of trees round what is now the lake, and there are footpaths through them. I got quite close to the lake with my bike but then came to a kissing gate, so locked it up to the fence and walked the rest of the way to the lake.

The photos are terrible. I don't know whether that's my camera or me, although I do know that there is a problem either with the camera, the charger or the battery as the battery went dead on me despite being newly charged.

So this is a grotty photo of the view across the lake. In the distance you can see White Horse Hill. Don't ask me what that grey splodge is.....




On the lake there are geese, swans and ducks. And apparently something called Blue Algae which can be dangerous, so the signs say, if you come into contact with it.

Unfortunately there are no benches to sit on and of course the grass was wet, so I just stood here and drank my coffee, which was warm rather than hot. But still, it made a lovely change from drinking it at home. And it was a good job I'd put the cup in a plastic bag (that's the white thing in the pic) and kept it upright in my panniers as it had leaked. Probably need a proper flask rather than one of these cups. This was where I stopped.

I then walked all round the lake and struggled a bit to find my way back to my bike. I am a bit inclined to get lost (probably older siblings kept telling me to when I was a child and it went very deep psychologically - certainly older sister and then boyfriend-now-husband bribed me with money for ice lollies to get lost!) but I don't really mind. Getting lost can be quite beneficial, and this morning I was in no particular rush to be anywhere so didn't mind getting mildly lost.

Because of the dodgy camera battery I didn't get the pic of my bike as proof that I'd actually cycled here (there are Rules for this challenge!) but the ride is on Strava so if anyone disputes my claim then I'll tell them to look on there.

I was going to cycle home doing a circuit of 6 or 7 miles but as it was such a lovely day I made it a longer circuit of 12 miles or so.

Lizzie