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Frayed Not
Be a smarty-pants; save your party pants! | |
Problem - my good party pants wear out much too fast, because the bottom edge gets frayed from rubbing against the ground, when I wear them around the house without high heels. Once the fabric itself is frayed and torn, only laborious mending can fix it.
Solution - A pants hem protector. A flexible
plastic edging that you slide onto the hem of the pants. It protects the bottom centimeter by encasing it in plastic. The edging is held on by friction, because it squeezes the pants fabric tightly, like a clip. When it's time to go out, the edging just slides off the pants.
Available in black (we are working on a clear plastic version)
The Problem
http://www.xus-clot...etailBGr501Male.jpg
[robinism, Jan 14 2005]
A similar trim
http://trimlok.com/....aspx?CategoryID=23
Shows how the edging wraps around and protects edges [robinism, Jan 14 2005]
Austin Chronicle: "Mr. Smarty Pants Knows"
http://www.austinch.../mrpants/whois.html
One account of the origins of the phrase "smarty pants." [bristolz, Jan 17 2005]
Terra Plana: Trip Clip
http://terraplana.com/tripclip.aspx
A plastic clip connected to a flexible loop around the wearer's ankle that lifts the pant leg. [jutta, Oct 19 2006]
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Solution - Purchase trousers that fit correctly. |
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Having installed miles (literally) of a harder plastic type of trim on metal, I'm not sure how well a similar thing would work on cloth. I suppose for denim, with a thick hem, you could make a c shaped trim that would close in above the thick part of the hem. I guess then it could hang on. I'm just thinking that anything you could easily apply to a relatively flexible piece of cloth might also fall off easily. |
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One other observation: if the material is stiff enough to hang on to the hem, it's gonna want to bend at a constant radius. The effect might be like miniature hoop skirts around your ankles. |
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A piece of string walks into a bar, and orders a beer. The bartender says "We don't serve your kind here". |
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The piece of string steps outside. He twists himself around several times, then beats himself up a bit until he's showing some wear and tear. |
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Walking back into the bar, he orders a beer. The bartender says "Aren't you that piece of string that was in here just a minute ago?" |
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The piece of string says "No, I'm a frayed knot". [+] |
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[sctld], the pants do fit fine, as long as I'm wearing shoes with heels. I think it's common for people to kick off their high-heeled shoes when they get home. Then the pants get dragged on the floor! |
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I find that when I take my clogs off. No, really. |
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[half], I like the magnet approach. Can we print words on the magnets, to make pants-leg poetry? |
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The material I was originally picturing for the edging was like a flexible plastic hose, the kind you would use for an aquarium filter, slit all along it's length, so that the pants edge could be slipped into the slit. Maybe that makeshift approach would work better than that car stuff in the link? |
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The hoop-skirt effect could be cute, depending on the cut of the pants. The protector really only needs to go on in back, because the front is protected by your foot. |
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How about using a dust ruffle instead. It would look like a costume from the Copa Cabana Club. |
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(I did think about lace, reminiscent of a family of very tall girls I went to school with. Sorry, I deleted my earlier anno apparently while you were writing yours. I was concerned that my "contribution" seemed like I was just pointing out flaws in your idea. Won't happen again.) |
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//the pants do fit fine, as long as I'm wearing shoes with heels// |
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Then they only fit correctly under given conditions. You should buy trousers tha fit correctly universally. And even if you did kick off your shoes when you got home, unless your floors are made of cement, i see no wear-and-tear occuring under these conditions. |
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now what would a Who from Whovillle do?
why, use a tiny little wheel - in lieu of 'er shoe -
just a tiny little bauble
shud remedy your trouble -
affix'd to a tiny little
carraige trailing at your heel |
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(sincerest apologies to the good Dr.'s memory) |
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[half], don't worry about pointing out the floss in my idea. Or the string either. A piece of string can be pretty clever, when trying to get served a beer. |
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[scltd], I wish it were just as easy as tearing up the concrete floors. But even the wood floors, when they have a light dusting of dirt particles, become like sandpaper. Also, with fabric, it doesnt take heavy abrasion to wear a hole. Very light abrasion, repeated enough times, will wear out fabric. |
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//now what would a Who from Whovillle do?
why, use a tiny little wheel - in lieu of 'er shoe -
just a tiny little bauble
shud remedy your trouble -
affix'd to a tiny little carraige trailing at your heel // |
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What a way to save my trousers -
Ride a skateboard 'round the house-ers! |
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It looks like scltd has an idea all of his own here. "now for sale: pants that automatically readjust themselves to the footwear you are (or are not) wearing!" |
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You could adopt wrap around shower curtains, for barn parties. [+] |
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For barn raisings, I just hike up the straps on my sequined overalls. |
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[Susan], It's a good thing that his invention is WIBNI, cause it would put me out of business. |
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It looks to me like you're all missing the obvious here. Why not just bend over and roll up your pant legs into a cuff? I realize it's not elegant, decorative, whimsical, or exciting, but it is cheap and practical and everyone knows how to do it. And if you are concerned about creases around your ankles from folding the fabric just use a pants press. |
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As best I can observe, the height of the heel being worn has a direct influence on the average angle of the ankle. Maybe that could be used as an input to an automatic pant length control system. Maybe ultrasonic measuring devices in the hem detect the distance to the floor and activate the auto-retract mechansim. |
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Or maybe, hover hems which would use a hovercraft style cushion of air to prevent pant legs from dragging the ground. |
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Suspenders that attach from the waistband to support the back edge of the hem? Maybe modified garters of some sort? |
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That idea crossed my mind too [Canuck] but if we would all stick to the obvious, there would be a lot less halfbakery. Robinisms idea however has just the thing that could make it a fashion thingemejingy. |
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Nice [half], that would do it for the engineers. |
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Just thought of something: Cuffing up your pants is in some society circles thought of as 'not done'. Whereas the Affraid not (normzones joke has been cracking me up ever since I read it!) could be made elegant and non obtrusive to the eye. |
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The problem with cuffing is, it doesnt work on flared pants. The flared bottoms don't stay cuffed. They just flop over and unroll themselves. And it seems like this year, all my fancy pants have flared bottoms. |
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Robinism - I'd imaginied more of a little wheel to prop up just the back of your pants hem - not your foot. A little carriage for the wheel would have to be attached somehow to your heel, but you'd still pad the floor in your socks. You could even tilt tiny little playing cards into the wheel spokes to perk up your chores. ...wait, chores in your good party pants? Ok, to perk up whatever yer doing at home in your good party pants while your not actually out partying in'em. |
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[Jung], I get it now. Like a little trailer trailing behind each foot. But what if I wanted to practice dancing? I might do a suddden move and trip on the trailer. But - if I had miniature pageboys, following carefully behind me to hold my hem up the way they do at royal weddings, that might work. |
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It's a good idea but what's wrong with taking your trousers off (along with your shoes) when you get home after a party? |
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[Machiavelli], that hardly seems proper, what with the miniature pageboys looking on. |
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Don't worry about the pageboys - at midnight, they turn back into mice. |
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Question: Where does the expression "smart-pants" come from? It doesn't make sense to me -a native spanish speaker-. |
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I found a link about it, [Pericles]. |
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The smarty-party rhyme was inspired by The Producers: "Don't be stupid, be a smarty. Come and join the Nazi party." |
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//the pants do fit fine, as long as I'm wearing shoes with heels.// |
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No they don't! They should fit your legs not your shoes. Oh, and is there any point in wearing nice shoes if your pants are too long to see them? |
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But maybe I don't understand, being a man and all. |
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//Cuffing up your pants is in some society circles thought of as 'not done'.// |
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Why not? Anyway, we are not talking about in company, we are talking about at home. |
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fyi- I have many shoes with different size heels to acommodate the different lengths of pants. I would still cuff them up if I had to. (from a woman's point of view) |
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//Solution - Purchase trousers that fit correctly.// |
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I love pants that are too long - they are more comfy, and keep my toes warm here in New York (yes - I moved! Off to college!) by covering the tops of my feet - I just wish that they wouldn't fray. |
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Perhaps they should make pants that the front half of the bottom hem is longer. Bagsies. |
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