Cool idea - the rain skirt

Photo: Craftzine.com

One of the least used items in my outdoors wardrobe is my pair of rain pants. They are a pain to put on once I'm on the trail because they don't go over my boots. They make me so sweaty that I end up soaked through anyway. They are, generally speaking, not worth the bother unless it's absolutely pouring.

Craftzine, a blog for the sew-it-yourself crowd, recently put up a post on how to make yourself a rain skirt out of an old raincoat. This is quite brilliant! You can put it on over your hiking pants and shorts, and take it off again, easily and without removing your boots! The open bottom makes it much less sweaty than rain pants too.

I can see that in rough terrain, where scrambling is necessary for instance, a long skirt would not be practical. But for other hikes where the trail is fairly flat or well benched, this could be an awesome solution.

In fact, I'm surprised none of the outdoor clothing manufacturers have tried this yet. The only change I would make to the suggested method on the Craftzine blog is that I would put snaps all the way down the opening. That way you can put it on and take it off easily, and you can have them closed up for more protection, or open some for more freedom of movement.

Now all I need is a sewing machine...