Heavyweight Denim Championships 2013 - 2015 - Official Thread

[cander49]

It speaks for the fading if you can tell whose jeans you see before you read who has posted them. Dingos, fanyas and canders pair are such ones.

Yours too.  One look at the back of the knees is enough to tell your jeans apart!

[summ3rhays]

Congrats Cander!  Best of luck on the new life together.

[tong SF]

HC-SF-26

IRON HEART MBB

20 months 10 soaked   

 

 

[Noodle36]

Some epic updates recently. Congrats on the engagement Cander. I apologize to the other contestants as I have been flaking out on the contest recently. Life, work, kids and the time of year have me upside down and backwards. Will recommit here and get my ass in gear.

Edited December 10, 2014 by Noodle36

[cander49]

Sorry, I know I post way too much, but I thought I'd share this scarf that Daria just finished making for me (as well as showing off our home-made chair, which is 99% complete).  She handstitched this from merino wool using a herringbone pattern, which is really complex and slow for a handstitch.  I think it was about 25 hours to make in its entirety (90" x 8"), which is pretty insane.  I've learned a lot about wools, knits, etc, from her in the process of her making this, a bunch of her own sweaters, etc.  Apparently, if one were to make a sweater out of 100% cashmere of actual good quality, the materials alone would actually cost at least $400.  I asked how J Crew can make cashmere sweaters for under $200, and she said that they just use the crap hairs off the side of the belly that nobody wants, so it's hardly even real cashmere.  Interesting to know.  In any case, if she were to make a cashmere sweater with pretty good quality cashmere and do everything by hand with this stitch, it'd be roughly 90 hours for her to make to make.  Say, if a professional could do it in 60 hours and you were paying them $15 an hour, it'd cost $500 for wool and $900 for labor, so you'd have to sell it for $1400 just to break even, not counting any other costs, which are plentiful.  I guess this is why everyone makes crap these days!

 

In any case, the scarf, just kind of worn long:

 

Lighting is poor... jeans are much lighter than this now.

 

Stitch pattern, as it was drying:

 

Speaking of time and labor, you guys don't even want to know what's gone into that damn chair...

 

Edit: oh, and actual jeans color now, compared to the scarf, which is only slightly lighter than the original indigo of the jeans:

Edited December 11, 2014 by cander49

[Bobbo]

^ There's no such thing as posting way too much. Especially when we get interesting info about fabrics and get to see some handmade stuff.

I really dig the chair. Really cool how you've made a lot of furniture on your own. Wish I had that kind of dedication in me.

[fanya]

That scarf is awesome, I did a little crocheting with just a simple double double somthing?  and never got past like 24 inches

[SuperJackle]

That's super nice cander. My girlfriend knits as well and has just recently finished a wool blend sweater for me. Def not cashmere though.

[Chubacca]

Congrats Cander! That's badass you got something a bit different than a diamond.  Makes me wonder how many girls out there in the world would be ok with not having a diamond and something different.  The ring definitely pops with the color contrast.  

 

Just looking at the previous pages, there are so many amazing fades and winners.  Just amazing.

 

Some updates and repairs.  I sent my Flatheads to Railcar for repairs and these are the pics I sent them.  With a professional repair/darning, I hope this will extend the life by a couple of more years.  A bunch of small little holes and the crotch/seat needs to be reinforced.  I really wish I knew how to do self repairs and sew....

 

 

 

 

Edited December 12, 2014 by Chubacca

[Netleyhunter]

Congrats Cander!!! Some great looking denim on here as always!

[Bobbo]

Kicking of the weekend with an imperial stout from Victory. Not the best I've had but it's allright.

 

Have a good weekend heavy champs. Cheers!

[kenzie]

it finally got cool enough in Hawaii to bike in my jeans

 

[mange]

HC-SF-103 Samuari S5000vx 25oz 15th anniv.

 

Bringing home the Christmas tree, Merry Christmas everybody!

 

 

 

[cander49]

Congrats Cander! That's badass you got something a bit different than a diamond.  Makes me wonder how many girls out there in the world would be ok with not having a diamond and something different.  The ring definitely pops with the color contrast.  

 

Just looking at the previous pages, there are so many amazing fades and winners.  Just amazing.

 

Some updates and repairs.  I sent my Flatheads to Railcar for repairs and these are the pics I sent them.  With a professional repair/darning, I hope this will extend the life by a couple of more years.  A bunch of small little holes and the crotch/seat needs to be reinforced.  I really wish I knew how to do self repairs and sew....

 

 

Thanks.  Honestly, I think quite a few these days. Seems like a lot of different stones are becoming pretty popular.  It'll be curious to see how those repairs go.  I think I'm going to have another round of fixes tonight, so I'll post those up in the next few days.

[FLDenim211]

I am still alive, I just haven't been able to get to the photos I took (they are on my sisters camera, she went to Virginia)  I got some seams repaired by Russel from Circle-A while I was in North Carolina last week.

[swiss-jeansfreak]

As a judge I'm so impressed about so impressed about those awesome denim evolution results seen here. Congrats to all the hardest core raw denim heads pouring so much incredible denim love in to their raw dnim projects. My out of the contest 25 oz IH jeans are still going strong after 606 wear days and start showing some stronger fadings now.

For all your denim passionates here a little end of the year surprize question to win 300 $ as a first prize and $ 100 as second close winner

If several persons have the same answer, the first incoming answer will count only.

The answer has to be made here or on Iron Heart forum only.

It will be a very simple question about my IH jeans whereyou have to guess something about them.

The question will be posted in 5 days from now so plenty of time to be prepared for this.

The winner will be anounced 2 days later at latest.

Meanwhile I wish all of you an awesome Holiday Season

Ruedi the judge from the little Jeansmuseum of heaviest fadings

[Bobbo]

Damn Ruedi, so nice of you to have another surprise prize in the middle of the contest.

And your Iron Hearts are looking great!

[summ3rhays]

HC-IH-06

MBB

20th update

 

 

 

[cander49]

Ok, time for a photo bomb!

 

Jeans post 16th wash, back in Utah a few days ago:

 

 

 

Interestingly, some of the stains are just pretty set at this point (if you couldn't tell that already from seeing how dirty the right thigh still looked right after the wash):

 

Daria did a handful of new repairs for me, although some places are just difficult or impossible to get to with her machine and a lot of work to do by hand. I'm just saying "screw it at this point" on the knees, thighs. The knees are blowing out fast, but the thighs are going slower, so I think those will be OK. The thighs are accessible with a machine, but I don't really want patches there, and the knees are just inaccessible. Some repairs, such as this non-selvedge restitch aren't really noticeable, but as you'll notice, I just told her not to bother with that tear off the seam near the bottom:

 

The crotch is probably the best demonstration of the level of life support that these are on:

[cander49]

Now, for something more interesting... We're doing some engagement photos today, courtesy of my brother, who does a lot of professional photography on the side and normally charges a minimum of $250 for an engagement shoot. As much as I love my competition jeans, I didn't want Daria to have to look at them in engagement shots forever, so I bought my round 3 pair early, got them in the mail from Blue in Green today, and will be using my first amnesty wear today for the engagement shoot (thanks Gavin for still allowing this!!!!!). So, let me introduce my new pair, the Oni Low Tension 20 oz Secret Denim Tapered Leg:

 

I bought them once washed, so they're ready to go out of the box. I could barely button the top button out of the box, so I think the fit is going to be pretty solid. Also, I like that the inseam is only 34" after the wash/soak BiG gave them, so I can do just a single cuff without having to hem them.

 

 

 

 

Here they are with the Samuraiss, in less good of lighting, over a surface which kind of dulls the look of the Samurais in comparison:

 

 Back belt loop fell detached today:

 

 

 

 

And now, two more cool photos of Daria's work:

#1, a 100% Alpaca scarf that she made for my mom's aunt:

 

#2: A hat and scarf set, from Merino wool, for my mother. Scarf was gifted for birthday 2 days ago, hat is for Christmas tomorrow:

 

Both of these are simple stitches, so the first took about 5 hours, and the set took about 8.

Edited December 24, 2014 by cander49

[cander49]

By the way, Gavin, is there going to be an 8th challenge? I just realized that I haven't seen another announcement since the last one ended in November - hopefully it's not that I'm just not paying attention closely enough.

[bradl]

Amazing Cander, may not have the fades that people look for but those things are beat pretty damn good. Obviously your SO does some amazing work to keep them alive.

 

Also great choice on the Oni, been looking at the 575 to enter into the DWC.

[oomslokop]

not even gonna be in this contest but cant wait to see your oni fades next year. epicness guaranteed!

[Megatron1505]

Cander, the challenge for the remaining months is simple. Wear hard.

Merry Christmas heavy champs.

[dingo]

Hi guys! Hope you all had a merry Christmas – I know I did!

 

So, as promised I treated my IH 634 S to their second wash, right on the day before Christmas. Which, as it turned out, is ALMOST half a year after the first wash, for whatever that means.

 

Without further adieu:

 

 

Prewash:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now for the results:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I took an outside picture as well, to show you the actual color in daylight. Notice the pomade-stains?

 

 

I must say that I am quite pleased with how they turned out so far. At this point in time, my Samurais were barely hanging by a thread. These IHs are tough as nails!

[swiss-jeansfreak]

So here the question to win a prize of 300 bucks for the closest and 100 bucks for the second closest answer:

How many grams is the weight of my currently worn IH 25 oz MBB jeans with empty pockets and no belt, but including some little souvenirs I'm carrying around on a special place of my pants since my last Gosport party meeting last July.

If several persons have the same best answer, the first answer will count.

Just one answer for each contest member.

Because of bad internet access you can answer this until January 4.th midnight middle European time.

The result and the winner will be announced January 6th 2015

Megatron will confirm me the winners contest membership.

Have fun and rock your raw denim projects hard for as long as possible but at least until the contest end

[cander49]

Ruedi, I'm not sure what souvenirs you have, but I'm guessing it's something in the hems if the pockets are empty! I'll guess that your jeans weigh 1305 grams with souvenirs.

[Bobbo]

I'm going with 1350 grams.

[mange]

My guess is 1080 grams

[MKMKMK]

1234 grams