Vest is one of the most iconic pieces of clothing in country that never goes out of style.
Traditional vests were associated with ranchers, cowboys, cowgirls and other weather-defying outdoor workers. These niches are filled with farmers, who often combine the livestock aspect with long hours in the outdoors that usually come with hand-on farming.
Vests can be described as body armor. They wrap around the core of your body, trapping in heat and protecting you from any weather hazards. Vests span the fashion gamut, from rugged, weather-repelling cotton duck in dark colors to more upscale dress vests in lovely colors — soft, feminine-type fabrics and wooly, woven-sweater designs.
When my neck is cold, I’m cold. The collar should be able to fit snugly around my neck, so the vest must have a collar. The collar is designed to keep out the elements, such as snow, rain, and sleet. A hoodie attachment makes it a great addition for wet or windy days.
As well as traditional vest fabrics like denim, tear-resistant and heavy-duty cottons, you can also use it in your everyday wear. Vests need to be lined with thick and warm insulation material for comfort during the wintry weather blasts that we have recently experienced. Synthetic, water-resistant “puffy” vests are also valuable if one has to be out in wet-snowy-sleeting weather. The vest should not absorb moisture, and be dry and comfortable.
Last week was a cold morning. The sun had just begun to warm the yard so I was dressed in my winter gear. The plan was for me to get out there to tend to the barn critters and stoke the wood furnace. Then… the garment disaster.
My beloved soft, warm and loved fleece vest gave up on me. The zipper was the problem. About four inches from the bottom of the zipper, the unzipped zipped teeth came undone and remained open. After many attempts, it became obvious that the plastic zipper, which was heavy and difficult to zip, was rebellious.
The failure wasn’t totally unexpected. Over a few prior days of use, the zipper had felt a bit balky, seeming to “stick” while closing it up. Perhaps the vest needed to be cleaned, as some dirt and sticky material was sticking to its plastic teeth. Faced with zipper disaster, I substituted a lighter-weight fleece jacket … with a zipper that wasn’t sure it wanted to cooperate either. Extended use can cause plastic zippers to lose their track. Were you expecting a week with zapped zippers every day?
Back inside, I tossed the vest and the jacket into the washing machine, along with a favorite barn sweatshirt and an ancient puffy, nylon-shell vest I hadn’t worn in ages. I decided I’d better run it through the wash cycle in case I needed to fall back on it as a substitute for the fleece.
Later, after the laundry cycle had been completed, my favorite gray-fleece jacket was pulled from the wet pile of garments at the bottom. This vest was covered in feathers. Feathers! Is there anything else in the world?
The old nylon vest was filled with feather down. Its damp shell hung limp and thin, the “puffiness” having gone away. There were tiny feathers everywhere — scattered over the floor, clinging to each damp garment, sticking to me, and floating out into the adjoining room..
This looked like the result of an early Thanksgiving turkey-catching session.
All the garments that were soggy went outside. I shook the clothes as hard as I could, hoping to loosen some feathery fuff. The best way to get rid of residue sticking to clothes is to put them in the dryer. The filter was removed and two large pieces of feather fluff were taken out.
While the fleece vest is still in good condition, the zipper does not separate. Despite losing its “pouf,” the rain-resistant synthetic is still wearable as a moisture-repellent vest, although its zipper looks frayed at the bottom. Later, I retrieved the handfuls of feathery fluff from the trash where I’d thrown them and put it outside in the flower bed near the porch. Maybe some backyard songbirds could use it as insulation for their winter homes.
Doing an online search, out of curiosity for the phrase “feather your nest,” yielded an impressive list of items for sale to decorate in cozy, homey décor. All items featured a feather motif, from wallpaper to pillows and blankets to soft cushions.
However, it seems that no one really wants to decorate with real feathers. The cover of any decorating magazine isn’t going to be a basement that looks exactly like a chicken home.
Soon after that, one of the chickens appeared on the porch and peeked through the basement glass door. Maybe she’s shopping for a new coop and figured our feathered digs were available.