The Hill-Side - Guatemalan Hand-Wovens

The Hill-Side guys have a really good feel of fabrics. They use nice, crisp chambrays, which made them quite famous at first, but lately they have been adding some beautiful flower prints, camouflage and lots of different interesting weaves.

Their latest offerings of hand-woven, Guatemalan fabrics are no different. They are amazing. The colours, the weave, the fact that they are fair trade and that they are cut and sewn in the US, makes them perfect. Especially if you are feeling a little dandy or feeling, that a bit of colour might do your daily outfit some good.

Available at Unionmade and Hickorees

READ MORE - The Hill-Side - Guatemalan Hand-Wovens

One Month of Denim - Day 18

"Ok, here's a question for you: I go to thrift stores a lot but tend to avoid the jeans section, I have trouble determining the age of a pair of Levi's for example. Can you share a few pointers on what to look for? The patch? The brand of the zipper? The rivets?"

I received this question from an anonymous reader, and I figured that it could be answered in an entirely new post. I'm very grateful for this question, so thank you very much and if I didn't answer your question in full, let me know and I'll try to add more information.

First of all, do not avoid the jeans section.

Secondly there are some give aways. Here are some in non particular order. 

1) Do the jeans have selvage? Turn the cuff - it's fast and effecient.

2) If they are Levi's jeans, does the red tab or orange tab on the back pocket spell LEVIS and not Levis. I'm refering to a thing known as "Big E", which was how LEVIS was spelled until 1971, when they changed the capital E to a small e.

3)Look for defunct jeans brands like Foremost (a JC Penney brand), Ranchcraft (Also a JC Penney brand), Key, Washington Dee Cee, Can't Bust 'em, Buckaroo by Big Smith, Roebucks - the list goes on and on.

4) If you are looking for zippers, the zippers you should be looking for are Talon (especially Talon 42), Scovill, Ideal, Gripper Zipper. 

This post may be of some help

5) Knowing this timeline from Levi's is good when you need to date jeans. Just look at the differences in arcuates (the iconic stitching on the back pockets) for instance.

This post may be of some help. And if you need some help, I'll gladly give some in depth explanations to understanding it. But please remember that there can be variations depending on the factory used even back then.

Finally I would recommend you look on the inside tags. If they are "made in USA", they are vintage and probably a lot more interesting than most new Levi's jeans. But try them on, so you don't end up in a pair of boot cut jeans - unless you are rocking a full "Freaks&Geeks" attire....

READ MORE - One Month of Denim - Day 18

One Month of Denim - Day 13

"We are a sanctuary for those that dream of rainbow selvedge and obsess over patina"

If you are looking to buy denim, it is harder finding a shop in the Western Hemisphere with a better stock than Self Edge, which now has no less than three, very unique stores. The owner Kiya seems relentless when it comes to stocking some of the very best denim especially from Japan, but in recent year many American brands have also been added.

The cult following that Self Edge has, can be explained in many ways. It could be the stock of the very best jeans in the world, it could be some amazing collaborations, it could be the leather accessories and other apparel, but I think it is all because of Kiya. His customer service is second to none. He is passionately active and very helpful on more than one forum (especially Superfuture) and his energy is enormous, when you see just how many questions he is able to answer in a multitude of different threads.

Among other things, Self Edge are also offering a great hemming service, which means you can get your jeans hemmed with a chain stitch done by one of the great, vintage Union Special machines, which are also the kind that Levi's used to have in their factories back in the gold ol' days. On top of this their ever expanding - and ever improving - assortment is also beginning to include more private label goods and collaborative efforts (with Sam de Goede of Cotton Duck). If you want to get in touch with Kiya, then I suggest you head on over to Superfuture, where you will easily find him - just look for the Japanese denim threads. He is very knowledgeable and has a passion for quality denim, that is unheard of.

READ MORE - One Month of Denim - Day 13

Crafts - Selvage Denim Laundry Bag

Some time ago I bought several yards of selvage denim from Cone Mills in the US. I passed some on to a friend and the rest have just been sitting in the basement waiting for me to do something about it. Well, I haven't found the courage to make more jeans, though I have done that in the past and I will do so again in the future, so today I spent some hours making one handsome laundry bag with the caring guidance and help from my girlfriend. Or actually it was more of a collaborative effort.

I decided to make this piece out of necessity. I needed something to stow my laundry away in, but I couldn't find anything I liked. But I remember seeing some laundry bags from the American army or rather the navy which were made of a thin denim - possibly chambray. So they were the inspiration for me on this piece, which is why I will possibly add some stencils, once I get around to buying some stencil ink. I already have some amazing Hanson brass stencils, that I would like to use.

For the bag we used some selvage denim (broken twill of approximately 14-15 oz) from Cone Mills, some vintage nylon fabric (I think the term is beaver nylon), a couple of solid brass grommets, some good rope and it was assembled on the Singer 222, that I received some time ago. The same thread was used throughout the project and it was a Saba 50 by Amann - unfortunately not the Rasant type of thread, which I have had troubles finding a good source for.

I did most of the sewing, which is why the stitching isn't entirely straight, though it is pretty good, if I may say so. 

It was the first project I ever did on the 222, and I have to say, it has surpassed my expectations. It plows through whatever you throw at it, and it isn't even an industrial grade sewing machine, but I guess they just made some things better in the old days.

I wish I had taken more pictures of the process, but the light in the basement was poor, so I didn't bother taking that many. Furthermore I was too focused on keeping up with the pace of my girlfriend (who is a tailor's apprentice and has a degree in pattern making), that I found myself forgetting to document the process in pictures.

In short, the bag is made from selvage to selvage across the fabric. Then the grommets were set, but before doing so the leather reinforcements were put in. After that the drawstring hem was sewed, and the sides were connected. We intended to do a flat felled seam, but some miscalculations were made, so it was just a felled seam. Lastly the bottom piece was put in. I decided on the orange fabric because I felt it was a nice contrast to the denim, and orange colour had a navy-ish feel to it. Furthermore I'm sure it will last a bit longer, as it wears harder than the denim and it sheds water. I'm pretty sure that this bag will last a lifetime and improve with wear.

The rope was put in and the ends of the rope was secured with some melted beeswax. This is a very practical way of ensuring the rope doesn't unravel and furthermore it smells deliciously. What I hadn't anticipated was that the rope is already taken on some bleeding from the denim. I'm sure this will get beautiful in some time.

The design is basically too simple to be called design. It is very functional and it will carry a months worth of laundry and possibly more.

You can see the pics in a slightly better resolution on ATD's Flickr. 

And lastly, I would like to thank my girlfriend for the help and support - I'm glad you decided to give my old sewing machine a go, even though you are used to industrial grade sewing machines, which are probably a lot better and easier to use. You did one hell of a job here and I will treasure this bag for a long time and honour it by throwing my dirty clothes in it.

READ MORE - Crafts - Selvage Denim Laundry Bag

One Month of Denim - Day 7

First of all it should be said that I'm sorry for focusing almost solely on the history of Levi's. There are of course other iconic denim brands that should be focused on, but it is the history I'm most familiar with and it is the one denim brand that seems to have the widest appeal. I may be focusing on the history of the two other big, old American companies - Lee and Wrangler.

Levi's has a big gap in their knowledge of their own history from the very beginning of the company to around 1906. In 1906 San Fransisco was hit by an earthquake and big fire followed. Everything was basically lost in that fire. This has been one of the things that their very own archivist, Lynn Downey, is trying to piece together. She has been collecting old clothing and memorabilia (of literally all sorts) from the company and trying to piece their history together. This collection is unfortunately not open to the public, but you may find reproductions of some of the pieces, as the line "Levi's Vintage Clothing" is mostly based on things found in the archive.

The oldest pair in line of what became the 501 jeans in Levi's archive - or should I rather say Lynn's archive - is a pair of jeans from around 1879. This pair is locked up in a (fire-proof) vault in San Francisco and they have a value of approximately $150,000. Not bad for a pair of jeans that were bought for $1.50, when they were originally purchased.

If you want to expand your denim vocabulary some of the features on this pair are, natural dyed indigo denim, single stitched construction, hand punched copper rivets, cinch back, one back pocket (with hand done arcuate), raised watch pocket, no belt loops, but suspender buttons and a button fly.

READ MORE - One Month of Denim - Day 7

One Month of Denim - Day 4

My hands and arms are numb from picking apples, peeling apples and cutting apples. Therefore I will only be posting to pics which are essential, when it comes to understanding denim. I will go into details with many of the details shown in the pictures, but I won't be doing that today.

In case you are wondering the jeans that the native American is wearing, are probably made of shink-to-fit denim.

READ MORE - One Month of Denim - Day 4