London jeans alterations

[scully_100]

Londoners,

Anyone know a reputable place to get a pair jeans altered?

I have a pair of rainbow selvedge edwins i need taken up about an inch and will not trust any old butcher.

Any Info greatly appreciated.

JJ

[viv1984viv]

bump, anywhere in London, or berkshire....

[synthi]

Hemming is a really easy job for a decent tailor and by decent I don't mean Saville Row, your local high street dry cleaner / alterations place should do a good job. If you really want a great job you can go to Saville Row, the London store Start use a SR tailor to alter any jeans bought instore.

btw nowhere that I know of in the UK does chainstitching

[scully_100]

i have had various results.

just wondering if there was any place where you are guaranteed the identical stitching in the heavy yellow thread ( not orange) that edwins have.

thanks heaps for the response

JJ

[viv1984viv]

hmph, chainstich would be preferd, guess ill just have big stacks for now.

[synthi]

No place will replicate the thread thickness, not even the 45rpm store in Paris who have a Union Special! The thread thickness used on most jeans is about no. 20 and even if you find that thickness thread the colour probably wont be the same and the thread will be mercerised therefore shiny and preshrunk = shit for jeans! Then again other people may not be as much of a nerd anout these things as me and therefore not care.

[viv1984viv]

thats really interesting sythi, although it just makes me more reluctant to get them hemmed! Thanks for the info. I guess if you find a good place you could ask for cool coloured threads in the correct thickness ( purple on black denim springs to mind, mmmm...), but that seems like the only plus point.

[synthi]

Yeah if you look at the thread on a pair of Japanese jeans whether raw or o/w, the cotton thread looks really hairy and ragged and dull. Nowadays people use mercerised cotton because it gives the silky sheen and because it doesn't shrink v. much at all. The opposite of all the qualities good for a pair of jeans!

btw if you're thinking about the Edo's, they do not feature chainstitching anywhere, they're hand felled everywhere. Even if you could get them chainstitched, I wouldn't. A simple lock stitch with a wider pitch than usual will look better.

[scully_100]

If i find a place that will acommodate and understand the gravity of such a situation and is willing to vary on colour and stitch width and weight i shall post it.

thanks again.

esp synthi.

thats true dedication... not nerdulence.

[synthi]

You're welcome. All this hoopla is precisely the reason I'm now gonna get jeans (ordered from Japan) hemmed at the store. They go to the trouble of having stock of the threads from different labels (i.e. they'll have a spool or two from Sugar Cane, Warehouse, SDA, Samurai etc.) with a view to matching the exact same thread type when it comes to hemming duties:D

I also suspect they'll use the best Union Special for the job (it's a compact model, looks unconventional) and will do an excellent job, seeing Stephane at the Paris 45rpm store chainstitch made me realise it's quite a skilled job really, requires concentration.

[tweeds]

Yeah if you look at the thread on a pair of Japanese jeans whether raw or o/w, the cotton thread looks really hairy and ragged and dull. Nowadays people use mercerised cotton because it gives the silky sheen and because it doesn't shrink v. much at all. The opposite of all the qualities good for a pair of jeans!

btw if you're thinking about the Edo's, they do not feature chainstitching anywhere, they're hand felled everywhere. Even if you could get them chainstitched, I wouldn't. A simple lock stitch with a wider pitch than usual will look better.

what's a pitch?

also, which thread are you referring to when you say "no. 20" - various brands use different thread thicknesses for their chainstitching, so i'm a little confused.

[viv1984viv]

Yeah if you look at the thread on a pair of Japanese jeans whether raw or o/w, the cotton thread looks really hairy and ragged and dull. Nowadays people use mercerised cotton because it gives the silky sheen and because it doesn't shrink v. much at all. The opposite of all the qualities good for a pair of jeans!

btw if you're thinking about the Edo's, they do not feature chainstitching anywhere, they're hand felled everywhere. Even if you could get them chainstitched, I wouldn't. A simple lock stitch with a wider pitch than usual will look better.

OH, I wasnt thinking about the edos, they will be perfect for me at 31.5inches! I had my sammies in mind to be honest with the 36inch leg, I was very tempted to ask 2000db for 4inches to be taken off at rakuten/2nd but I bottled out because I was unsure of shrinkage in the length.

[synthi]

what's a pitch?

also, which thread are you referring to when you say "no. 20" - various brands use different thread thicknesses for their chainstitching, so i'm a little confused.

Pitch = the space between the holes punched by the machine thus ._._._._. would be a narrow pitch and say .__.__.__.__.__. would be wide pitch! I think!? :confused:

If you check this site http://www.willowfabrics.com/acatalog/Coats_Aida_Crochet_Cotton.html Gutermann rival co. Coats use a no. system to indicate thread thickness. I bought a ball of no. 20 from a local store and it's almost a perfect match for the thread thickness used on the hem of most jeans. But you're absolutely right, different companies use different thread thicknesses, but none as spindly thin as common dressmaking thread that most tailors will use. Hope this helps!

OH, I wasnt thinking about the edos, they will be perfect for me at 31.5inches! I had my sammies in mind to be honest with the 36inch leg, I was very tempted to ask 2000db for 4inches to be taken off at rakuten/2nd but I bottled out because I was unsure of shrinkage in the length.

Ahh I see. In my experience Sammy's shrink BANG ON to 36 inches, if anything a few mm over (again, in my experience, I'll put a YMMV as a disclaimer but I've so far shrunk 4 -5 pairs of Sammys in hot, almost boiling water) so next time just get them hemmed at the Rakuten store. Their chainstitching would be second perhaps only to the original. Sadly Samurai will not hem jeans ordered direct. Oh well.

[Paulo]

No place will replicate the thread thickness, not even the 45rpm store in Paris who have a Union Special! The thread thickness used on most jeans is about no. 20 and even if you find that thickness thread the colour probably wont be the same and the thread will be mercerised therefore shiny and preshrunk = shit for jeans! Then again other people may not be as much of a nerd anout these things as me and therefore not care.

Yeah i noticed this with my evisu jeans i had chain stiched at take5. The thread looked much smaller on the take5 job then the original evisu. Also the colour isnt the same as the birght orange/yellow original one. I do like the job that Yamane will do for free in Hong Kong though.

Top Yamane Jeans bottom is original Evisu stiching form No2 Japanese jeans.

[tweeds]

on the note of stitching and threads, a friend just informed me that topstitch thread only comes in limited colours around singapore, and hence the little bit of repair work that my eternals need might be a little hard to do if i want to ensure consistency...

[synthi]

Ahh, memories. Nice bump! Well Gordon and I have spoken a bit about this and I'm pleased to relay that he has gone to the trouble of procuring the same thread that the big labels in Japan use so expect any work of his to be beyond authentic. Seriously you NY folk are so lucky, two spots that do chainstitching while here in the UK we still have to partake a hop and a skip across the pond to Paris for such things. And as aforementioned, the machine 45rpm Paris have isn't designed for hems and can only accommodate fabric 14oz or less and the thread is of the thin mercerised kind. Stephane told me that they did have a proper set up but the powers that be in Japan arranged for them to send the stuff back

[Paulo]

So no where in the uk right now i can get this done? Its going to annoy me so much that i might not even wear my jeans now and just wear my yamanes first. I wish the evisu flagship store in london would pull their fingers out and sort this out. Every shop in japan does it and i think the NY one might too?

[sybaritical]

'Kay so I've been trying to get my PRPS from a couple years ago reworked and took them to start in Shoreditch but they were going to shred them, so I rescued them and walked. And I'm so glad I did, cuz I've found the best denim repair guy right in the middle of Covent Garden.

I took my jeans in this afternoon and he took 3.5 " out of the waist and legs and 1.5" off the hems (which meant losing the chainstitch but left the selvedge and rivets intact and the wear I've achieved in the correct positions) while I sat next to him chatting about his denim collection and reading a paper. Took about 3/4 hourand cost £25.

Guys name is Dale and he works out the back of Barbers shop in a small alley that runs alongside the Duffer store. The address is 3 Nottingham Court, covent garden, London WC2 9AY. Tel 020 7836 9401.

[fre-co]

great heads up Syb! I can't rep you again for now but I owe you one.

I wonder if he's the guy American Classics use....?

[sybaritical]

They all use him, that's how I got his details. Dude was crazy cool. does repairs and alterations on anything, but loves working on and talking about quality denim.

[TheIntelligentHoodwinker]

Excellent. Cheers.

[st199ml]

Just a bump to this to say another satisfied customer of Dale's. Nice guy, super speedy, accurate work.

[sybaritical]

Bump to say I went to pick up two pairs of jeans that both needed serious repairs at the crotch and hems yesterday and watched Dale practically rebuild them. Awesome.

[TheIntelligentHoodwinker]

Went to see him yesterday, and he's going to attempt to salvage the pockets of my Flatheads and Lee's so will report back. Seems like a really nice guy and definitely knows his stuff – he was taken aback by the shitty quality of the pockets on the Flatheads...

[raWorkshop]

... he took 3.5 " out of the waist and legs

I don't see how that's possible :confused:

[mofonyx]

bumping this up.

I went to see Dale today about my Levi's crotch problem (bust and about to come apart like a flap if it wasn't tended to).

Unlike the impression sybaritical gave about Dale being able to get your jeans done the same day, I was given a timeframe of 10 days for him to work on them and they are going to cost 20 pounds for reconstruction and repair.

His business is picking up it seems.

[chambo2008]

so this dale is still around is the number still good? i need the thigh's taken in on my evisu deluxe they measure 11inch which is MASSIVE for my 29 waist, this guy sounds to good to be true

[mofonyx]

@ chambo2008

Yeap, he's still around. He does more than just jeans, although the American Classics store knew exactly who I was talking about when I said "denim repair".

Go ahead and take the thighs in. I wouldn't want to do any alterations to a pair of deluxes though, but to each his own. Share your experience when you pay him a visit, that sounds like quite a big tailoring job to do.

[Sabbath]

Just a bump to this to say another satisfied customer of Dale's. Nice guy, super speedy, accurate work.

1 pair of jeans and 3 pairs of trousers all altered in half an hour.

[Mr Black]

Good info to have. Does he price by the job or by the hour?