about to wash my raw denim...

[cw]

i've searched all the threads, and my head is spinning from all of my options? any suggestions, before i do my best not to ruin these?

they're fitting great except for the waist, which is really annoying because it's stretched like two sizes. i've had them for seven months, wearing them once or twice a week only unfortunately.

i'm thinking about either doing a cold wash inside out in the machine. and drying outside. or doing a 'bucket' rinse that i saw on one of the links to a japanese site. but, i don't read japanese, so that's a shot in the dark.

i'm also tempted not to do anything to tray and get more wear in them, but the waist is a real pain in the ass.

sorry to have to post as i know this has been talked about at nauseum. but i need some direct advice. thanks in advance...

[soultek]

what kind of jeans are they?

[cw]

rrl blue selvedge

[horriblyjollyjinx]

turn inside out to lose less indigo

tally-hoo

[Serge d Nimes]

wash them inside out in a sink with woolite black and really hot water. Let them soak for 2 hours and then rinse them and you can do another soak in hot if you want. do not ring them out, just let them dip dry. Don't put them in a machine unless you wanna lose a lot more indigo.

Carpe Denim! (not the jean brand silly!)

[cw]

cool. thanks for the replies

[Geowu]

Is Woolite Black really helpful? maybe it keeps the color dark? What do you think, Serge?

[cw]

serge,

what's really hot? like a pot of hot water from the stove? or hot water from the tub faucet?

[Phrederick]

I want to do my first wash on a three month old pair of APCs, because they've stretched out so much I want them to shrink back down. I wanted to wait longer so that they could get some more wear before washing, but they stretched out 1-2 sizes in the waise. What would be the best way to shrink them, without losing too much indigo?

[Geowu]

spray water on them, or do a quick cold soak, inside out, and hang to dry.

[Corbin Law]

what is woolite black?

chwa?

[Geowu]

Edited by Geowu on Aug 14, 2005 at 11:17 AM

[Serge d Nimes]

Yeah, Woolite black should keep the jeans darker than whatever else that is out there. Hot is >180 degrees F.

Carpe Denim! (not the jean brand silly!)

[Geowu]

but... does Woolite black prevents also the wear marks from showing more contrast?

[Serge d Nimes]

It hasn't in the case of my APCs!

Carpe Denim! (not the jean brand silly!)

[Phrederick]

Quote:

spray water on them, or do a quick cold soak, inside out, and hang to dry.

--- Original message by Geowu on Aug 13, 2005 09:51 PM

Would that shrink them? I thought hot water was needed to shring cotton.

[wild_whiskey]

Yes, cold water will absolutely still shrink them.

[ringring]

Cold water just takes a little longer. Soak your jeans cold for a few hours and the shrinkage will be done, with very little dye loss.

[Phrederick]

Would it be worth it to wear them around for a bit while they are drying?

[eldave04]

ccw, the rrls wont really shrink anyways as they are sanforized. I have the same pair, how are yours fading, mine suck.

[cw]

mine still look pretty much brand new. i was hoping they'd magically fade nicely after the first wash. which i still haven't done yet. why do yours suck? just the fading? or quality? or what? and how did you wash yours?

[eldave04]

It s been about 5 months and the fading has been pretty minimal. I have only ever rinsed them once in cold water. I m not ready to wash them yet, as I am not sure how much indigo will be lost. I am going to wait until I am absolutely sure that there will be some nice contrasts before I wash them.

[cw]

did you have problems with the waist stretching out A LOT? did the rinse help that at all?

[Corbin Law]

When you say wash in woolite black, do you wash in only woolite black or like a cup mixed with your water

chwa?

[Geowu]

I've put approx. 100ml of woolite in a recipient with approx. 10 litres of hot water (around 70 degrees).

[eastcoastrider27]

So cold water for more shrinkage, but less indigo loss.

Hot water for less shrinkage, but more indigo loss?

I'm confused, please put it in the simplest terms possible...I'm a moron.

NyM...

[horriblyjollyjinx]

hot water = more of everything.

tally-hoo

[sway]

So what would be the best way to get high contrasts? I've generally read that a hot wash is the best way to do this... but it seems like a hot wash would also make the dark areas a lot lighter too. So I'm wondering if perhaps doing multiple cold washes instead might be better at preserving the dark areas while still washing out the indigo in the worn areas.

[eastcoastrider27]

That's what I want my jeans to look like.

Mostly dark, and then light in the worn areas.

Like this:

NyM...

[eldave04]

cw, I found the whole jeans stretched a lot, especially in the waist. The rinse did not really help at all in terms of indigo bleeding. I tend to put them in the dryer from time to time to shrink them as much as possible, but they are really big now.