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Old August 12, 2009, 03:54 PM   #35
lwestatbus
Senior Member
 
Join Date: March 13, 2008
Location: Cocoa Beach, FL
Posts: 119
Shirt Keeps Blowing Open--A Solution

I wanted to start a new thread with a solution to a problem I'd originally posed in the thread Shirt Keeps Blowing Open.

Here it is:

I found a really convenient solution to this problem. I remembered a name badge I once had which you attached with a magnetic back--one magnet glued to the badge and one that went inside your shirt. I then checked Michael's Craft store online site and they carry the perfect product but...they are way across town. So I tried Home Depot and guess what??!! They carry a set of four pairs of 3/4" round disk magnets in the hardware section (House-Mates brand. SKU is 0 30699 97064 3. About $2.89 for the set of eight magnets as I recall.) They are PERFECT.

1. Place one magnet inside a belt loop on your pants at the 1, 2, or 3 o'clock position.
2. Fold about an inch of the leading edge of your shirt back and place the second magnet inside aligned with the one in your belt loop. (Hint: Be sure to use the correct side of the second magnet or it will push away from the first one. Remember 5th grade physics.)
3. Experiment a little with the alignment of the magnet in the shirt so the shirt hangs at a natural height.

From the outside the layers you encouter are:
1. Outer layer of shirt
2. Outer magnet
3. Layer of shirt folded back on itself
4. Fabric of belt loop
5. Inner magnet
6. Belt (if worn)
7. Waistband of pants
8. T-shirt (if worn--probably so if using an ISW carry)
9. Undershorts (if worn--see above)
10. You

Advantages
1. They worked in a pretty stiff wind this afternoon
2. They are cheap
3. I had no trouble reaching through the shirt opening for the pistol
4. The magnets drop away when drawing (except in one case when the inside-the-shirt magnet stayed stuck to the belt-loop magent after the shirt was pulled away). They are cheap enough so that if you loose one in action who cares? (Hint: Practice where you can find the one when it drops and don't practice on your wife's tile floor.)
5. You get the magnets from the manly hardware section at Home Depot instead of at some craft store. [Insert Tim Allen grunt here.]

Disadvantages
1. You don't get to use your duct tape
2. You don't get to walk around in some strange state of dress and holding your hand oddly.

I want to see if I can work up a system to permanently mount one of the magnets on a belt loop that will slide on the belt using thinner fabric. This would give more flexibility and I'd prefer that the magnet not be fixed through the folded over fabric that makes up the belt loop.
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