Overalls get a bad wrap.. Today's Fireside Chat..

Back in the 1970's and early 80's overalls were hip, I don't know why but they were. The problem I always saw with them was the styles and materials, that and going potty became more of a task. I know I had issues with them when I was younger. My parents seemed to think they were the best type of clothing on offer, until I explained what was hip and what wasn't at the time.

However, now that I'm adulting, I see the reasoning behind such a creation and all the benefits of wearing them. Having said that, I haven't owned a pair of them since I went skiing twenty three years ago, until this past week. My girlfriend at the time, now my wife, bought me a ski bib/overalls to go skiing with her. I love that set of insulated ski pants. They kept me warm in sub-zero temperatures. I could still wear my blue jeans under them. When they got wet from the snow I could take them off, still have my blue jeans on, and hang them up to dry.

I was in a strange mood last week and talked my wife into going with me to get a set of overalls. In my mind I wanted something that would stay up without a belt, without separate suspenders, and would keep my low back warm. My old set, my ski bib, was...too small? Yeah, we'll just say too small. I grew a bit more horizontally than I preferred, in the belly region. Belts were becoming tiresome and suspenders just weren't doing the job. Besides overalls are great to do crafts in, not that I'm feeling very crafty at the moment, but still they have all these great pockets.

We went to our local hardware/farm store and I found they had an excellent selection of overalls. I looked at the blue jeans types and knew that they wouldn't do what I wanted them to, which was mainly look halfway decent. I looked at the camouflage style overalls next and the ones that would fit were $120.00+. That was out of my spending zone for general around the house wear. Then my wife saw the desert tan colored ones. That was perfect for me! I don't know, I'm weird, I like things that feel right to me. It's tan denim material and just the color for me, at least that's the way it feels. Each to their own right?

I bought a pair and went home without trying them on. Fortunately I found the right size. That night I wore them everywhere around the house to break them in. I instantly fell in love with them. Back when I was a kid I hated them. Maybe it was because I had troubles with the weird buttons or maybe it was because the straps hung on the floor when I used the restroom, I don't know, but I hated them. Now all that has changed. I feel at home in them. After having worn them for a couple of days, my daughter suggested that if I were to wash them they would become softer and fit better.

I washed the overalls on her suggestion. When I pulled them out of the dryer, however, they were not softer! In fact they had shrunk quite a bit. They were crumpled and hard as a rock. They looked as though I had added a ton of starch to the wash. I had to put them on and wear them around some more to break them in again. Once my body warmed them up they started to loosen up. Now they are back to their original feel, but clean. My brother always says "New doesn't mean clean" so we wash new clothes usually before wearing them.

When I wear my blue jeans I use a belt. After decades of wearing a belt I have developed a pinched nerve in my legs. I make the belt tight around my waist. This was causing me pain, so there was the other reason for the change. These overalls don't require a belt. They are snug, but not too snug, I'd say they are snuggly. I'd easily sleep in them with no issues and no impingement on my nerves to my legs. So I get better blood flow as well with these overalls.

I don't go with coveralls because they don't make them in my size, as far as I've seen. That and they just never did fit or feel right to me. I've had coveralls before, in the past, when I wasn't horizontally challenged in the belly region. When I wasn't as fluffy. Even when I was buff I never felt like I'd get used to them. Coveralls are great when you are working on projects and don't want to get your clothes underneath dirty. Still, I just couldn't do it, not coveralls, not my style. I love the fit and feel of my overalls. I like the desert tan color, not the blue jean color. I'd go with camouflage, but those are out of my price range and I'm really very picky when it comes to choosing the right clothes for me.

So I'm bringing back the overalls as a new old trend, but not the blue jean type, those will never be cool. Now I just need to get with someone who wants to update them for the modern world and put better pockets in them. I'm not a carpenter and it seems that the only style overalls come in are carpenter styled. The pockets don't fit my needs. Not for my daily activities. I definitely think it's high time we changed the fashion of overalls to be more inclusive of other careers and not just focus on people wandering around with hammers and rulers.

Overalls are so useful and they almost always fit right, no matter what you're wearing underneath. For instance, I had to jump out of bed this morning to take my son to school, but I was snugly warm in my pajama pants and didn't want to lose that heat, so I put on my overalls. The overalls fit nicely over my night clothes and hid them well. I retained the heat I had upon waking and was nice and warm when I went out into the 40degree Fahrenheit weather to warm up the truck.

Much love and light,
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