Making do

What do you do when it's freezing cold outside at the jobsite and you've already lost 60% of your income? You make do with what you can find instead of buying those new insulated coveralls!
Hubby is working out in the rain and mud, he gets cold easy and several layers of clothing just aren't cutting it so we had to find another option. And we did. We lucked up on a set of lined bib overalls that were at least one size too big, 6 inches too long in the legs and missing a button for one of the straps... but they were FREE!
Last night I set to work with a quick repair to at least get hubby a day or three of warmth while I wait on the zipper issues to magically resolve themselves in my head. You see, the legs are zippered all the way down. I had thought it was just a boot zipper and knew I had replacements so I could take off the extra length and replace the zipper. Nope, full leg zipper, from thigh to ankle and they are about 5 or 6 inches too long.
Anyway, the quick repair. I had to recreate some sort of fastener where the button was ripped out. Knowing this would happen again should I replace the button I decided to make a hook. I pulled out my heavy duty denim patches, which didn't match either, patched the hole left by the button, ironed it on (still fighting with Onyx for the iron I might add) and sewed over it with my machine. Good. Looked tolerable.
Nice and secure but what to make the hook out of? I remembered the large coil of bronze wire I had stashed away but it wasn't as thick as I remembered, only 12 gauge, so I had to think. We have a roll of bailing wire outside, no, decided that was a last resort. Then I remembered that bag of old wire hangers. Bingo! I hunted down the lineman's pliers, the ring pliers, and a few other of my jewelers/wire working type pliers and set to work. Once finished I tacked it on with doubled upholstery thread to get him through today, I will go back and cover with denim later this weekend to protect those threads.
Then I had to address the fact that this thing was meant for a tall person and the back was just too long and the straps were as well making the whole overall puddle around his waist. I made him hold really still while I set to work pinning up the back for a temporary fix until I had enough time to actually go in and take apart the seams and redo the sizing. I took the heavy thing to my machine and had to fight to get 3 layers of denim and lining to fit under the foot! Oh the horror! I broke 2 needles, and the machine fought back, birds nesting in all the wrong places but I got it done. It doesn't look pretty but it's functional for now.

Now to figure out the zipper issue, I'm thinking about possibly moving the brass stops on the bottom of the zippers up to where I need them and just hacking off and hemming like I normally do with his pants. Just have to figure out how to undo those brass stops.