Repairs & Modifications
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Splash of bleach to SBG wash?
(Allow me to preface the following by saying I’ve spent a long time achieving fades the slow and old fashioned way. But in the true spirit of denim, I like experimenting with new techniques to achieve a variety of results.)
When I first saw EllaHarp — a singer-songwriter who also makes her own jeans — demonstrate the results of a “splash of bleach” method on her 888s, I was surprised and impressed. This was a far more vintage-looking fade than any of my jeans looked like with heavy wear.
After a year in Texas, including a long, hot, humid summer, my 21 oz indigo IH denim had already started taking on beautiful whiskers and other cool fades, so I decided to experiment. The 777s had high contrast knee fades which I wasn’t a fan of (even tho I love my two young kids!). I hoped this “splash of bleach” technique could even out the difference and make the knee fades less obvious.
Using about 50 ml of bleach in my washes every 1-3 months has resulted in a very gradual change that evolved into absolutely stunning and complex vintage-style fades with a million hues of blue. The texture was also different than, for example, the thigh fades achieved without chemicals. It’s really not too dissimilar from what she shows in her photos.
This also had the benefit of smoothing out the contrast with the knee fades, making me fall in love with these jeans more than ever.
Question: would the same method cause a similar effect with my 8301 SBG 777s? Or will the sulfur-dyed fabric react differently? I don’t need super high contrast fades, but I like that middle ground, and these SBGs are really showing some character after almost 12 months of regular wear.
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Here is a recent mod to my bibs. I have been running the @denim-dawg kilt pin hack a for bit and loved how it tapered things up when I didn't have my big boots on. I got a snap kit and was doing some shirt mods, so I thought I would give it a try on my pants. These bibs have not been hemmed, so I typically double cuff. Now I have the option to double cuff and run a snugger pin cuff that stays in place. 1st photo is just straight up, second is unsnapped with a double cuff and last is snapped with a double cuff. Really happy with the options now with different footwear.
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Chain stitch hemming, any cause for concern
Happy New Year all!
I’ve been rocking my 21 oz 634s since the start of the cold season here, and after their first wash I decided to get my jeans hemmed as I wanted to go for a cleaner look on this pair specifically. Unfortunately, my local shop had some issues on the initial hemming which resulted in a skipped stitch on the union special, causing the chain stitch to immediately start unraveling as it got snagged by some friction on my shoes.
Since then, the chain stitch has been redone a total of 3 times (I want my iron hearts to look good and feel good!!!). In the below photo, I keep looking at these end loops left out after the final hemming (good otherwise, no skips). Is there any concern with these loops hanging loose? One is in the overlapped section of the stitch, but the other is at the end of the stitch I believe. I’d love to not have to take them in again.
Regrettably, I should have gotten them hemmed by IH when I first purchased them as I did not experience any shrinkage in length, and I would’ve much preferred the tied-end, Poly-thread that IH uses (my 14 oz are factory hemmed and have held up amazingly).
Any advice would be great, thank you all!!
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Hi there,
The finish actually looks pretty good, doesn't look like anything to worry about, if it was me I would take a lighter to those end loops to just seal it off, like we do here at IHUK
Some extra words of wisdom from @Ross below
We used a poly-cotton thread this half burns - half melts these ends off sealing the ends better than a tie-off or what it looks like they done here and tucked the ends back in (?, honestly its a little hard to tell from just pictures).
I'd be tempted to do the same here, take a match or lighter (carefully!) to those loose ends to just burn them off so they don't catch on anything - other than that the the stitching itself look solid -
@hello_4lex Post/question moved here.
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@Jack appreciate the insider info Jack. My local shop uses 100% cotton thread, I assume this leaves the burn method out of the question?
As for finishing, I believe they just do the old school overlap (roughly 1.5-2” of stitch overlap) and snip the ends.
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@hello_4lex No worries, just wanted to keep posts of similar nature together. It’s all a learning curve.
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@Jack haha fair enough. My only concern would be that due to the cotton thread, rather can creating a sort of end “seal” it might just cause the thread to be more easily pulled out with friction and wear. I’m quite the nit-picker, so I just have to not look at the inside of the hem until I forget about it.
Fingers crossed that they hold— would hate to start getting some nice roping fades only to have to re-hem and then create some weird overlapping patterns in the denim.
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@endo wow that's a great modification. Is that wool lined with quilted arms? you must have a trusted and skilled tailor.
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@jordanscollected said in Repairs & Modifications:
Is that wool lined with quilted arms? you must have a trusted and skilled tailor.
yes, and yes she's great
