home-made jeans

[raWorkshop]

I made my first pair about a year ago, last winter break. I've reverse engineered Levi's, used a store bought pattern, and had my own drafted by a patternmaker.

First pair I ripped up some thrifted 505's, used some nasty JoAnn fabrics denim and used my mom's doodaded up domestic sewing maching.

They survived all summer working 8 hours a day non-union manual (slave) labor and they have some decent fades now.

[hollowsleather]

Outstanding, ra!

[raWorkshop]

Second pair from the KwikSew commercial pattern, slightly better denim, new machine, button fly etc.

I didn't flat fell the seams here, I should have, normally folded seams area weak as hell.

Fit kinda sucks.

[raWorkshop]

Ahhh, here comes the good stuff. I had the pattern drafted by a semi-professional patternmaker. Cone denim, Singer made in 1896, a life ruined by obsession.

I have a time lapse video of me making them but its wayyyy to fast.

I'm going to have the pattern redone by a legit professional and make a few pairs to sell over this winter break. Making jeans is tough shit but a good project for christrmas break, I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to take it on.

[Orion]

This is a great thread. Ra & Rodeo, I'm definitely impressed. + rep for sure. Working a sewing machine is really becoming a lost art. Good work.

[duck sauce]

Anybody have links for where to buy denim for this?

[rodeo bill]

excellent stuff ra! and thanks for coming in on this:)

it's nice to see the progression of your skill. I'm away for work at the moment, but when I'm home I'll post my earlier attempts too...

I really like the cutaway waistband end detail you have on the second pair, and I'm very impressed you've mastered hidden rivets! To me the 3rd pair's the best so far though- great fit. How'd you get on with the singer? my grandma has one a bit like that, with a treddle. I've never tried it out though.

[raWorkshop]

excellent stuff ra! and thanks for coming in on this:)

it's nice to see the progression of your skill. I'm away for work at the moment, but when I'm home I'll post my earlier attempts too...

I really like the cutaway waistband end detail you have on the second pair, and I'm very impressed you've mastered hidden rivets! To me the 3rd pair's the best so far though- great fit. How'd you get on with the singer? my grandma has one a bit like that, with a treddle. I've never tried it out though.

Thanks, I really dig your work too, the denim looks cool and the thread color is great too. I wish I could say that cut away was intentional, but I'm glad you think it looks good.

And that Singer isn't a treddle, you just aren't looking for the motor bolted to the table It's a singer 306 I think, straight stitch industrial, got it from Globe Sewing in Cleveland (great great guys, kinda kooky as per always with sewing machine techs).

[rodeo bill]

^^^noticed the motor after I replied

my grandma's one looks pretty similar though, but it really is a treddle!

any chance we could see some more pics of the first pair's fades? the fit photo looks fantastic

[Mr Black]

F'king outstanding. Very envious of you guys!!

Ahhh, here comes the good stuff. I had the pattern drafted by a semi-professional patternmaker. Cone denim, Singer made in 1896, a life ruined by obsession.

I have a time lapse video of me making them but its wayyyy to fast.

I'm going to have the pattern redone by a legit professional and make a few pairs to sell over this winter break. Making jeans is tough shit but a good project for christrmas break, I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to take it on.

[BlueOctoberFan]

Each pair looks progressively better. I really like the last two pairs. Also, the sign on the wall is excellent.

[rodeo bill]

So as of today I have rivets and buttons!

'W' enamelled waistband button (Wrangler if you;re being picky, but works well for me too:D) I found this on the floor of the place I got the rivets done, and they let me use it.

leather support behind the top button:

war-time-levi's-style plain donut fly buttons:

copper carharrt-style dome rivets (no luck with finding silver ones, but I almost like these better):

leather behind the rivets as well:

I put the buttons on myself (terrified I was going to finish the day with buttons rivetted all over my hands), but the guy who works the rivetter did the rivets for me- the cloth's much thicker at rivet points, and it all looked much fiddlier and riskier (both for the jeans and my fingers). He signed and dated the pocket bag for me after we were done. He was a really nice cool guy:cool:

edit: I just noticed he got the date wrong! but that's all part of the story

[rodeo bill]

dry finished fit pics:

and into the shower for a hot wash with soap. This is how they look as I type:

indigo puddles (I'm sure we've all experienced this:rolleyes:):

I'll do more fit pics after they've dried, but from wearing them in the shower, they seem to have shrunk quite a bit (I'd guess at least an inch), and a pretty huge amount of indigo came out, and has soaked into the calico trims, which I really like. I'm pretty certain they'll still be very dark though.

[rodeo bill]

my jeans are pretty much dry now (and I'm too impatient to wait for them to dry properly so I'm wearing them today anyway!).

drying overnight:

denim before wash:

and now:

the fabric's shrunk quite a bit, most in the length and thigh width, and less in the waist unfortunately, so they're still pretty big.

The denim seems to have had quite a lot of starch in, and i can see creases forming already after just a few minutes:

fit pics tonight:)

[mcallistermizy]

Hello Bill,

Where can i find a raw material for my home made jeans project? selvedge cotton..rivet.. etc? Any suggestion? Thanks - your jeans looks cool and for sure 'ORIGINAL'

[Charlie Delta]

Did you even bother reading the thread?

[snuff_daddy]

great work guys...very motivating

[Hendodo]

wow, you should make more bill! these are great designs!!

[jyoni]

Wow, you two make me want to try this!

would rep you rodeobill, but I gotta spread

[Guest DCDenim]

great work, not feeling the fits but still really impressed.

[Akira]

What's the purpose of the leather?

[Conie Jeans]

Bill:

Started up with Kuroki Fabric, what a wonderful job dude. I hope you can make the deal with them, great project!!!!!!!!

[rodeo bill]

thanks very much for all the positive comments guys:) I'll post replies to individual questions in a sec, but first, here's fit pics after soaking:

as you can see, they've shrunk quite a bit (stupidly I didn't think to measure them before I washed them, so I can't say exactly how much). They;re definitely shorter (as intended, I'm feeling keen on no turnups at the moment), and they weirdly seem to be a lot slimmer in the calf...? (which I'm really happy with) But they're still pretty roomy in the waist. I'm wearing them belted up quite tight, which isn;t ideal because you get a bit of bunching at the waistband, but this was the fit (after I belted them) I was originally going for. To be honest I just got it a bit wrong and should have made the waist smaller by an inch or 2. I've considered doing a DIY alteration job (without totally redoing it I'm not going to be able to take them in properly), but I think I'll just leave it and wear them low (the Marky Mark could do with comeback don't y'all think:D?) or belted up like this.

All in all, and with quite a few lessons learned, I'm ridiculously please with them! I'm really hoping more people will follow raWorkshop's and my lead and post up their own projects, but if not the next you'll hear from me here will be in a few months with wear pics (although I'll be dividing my time between these jeans and my Japan Evisu No1SPECIALS, so it might be a bit slow....)

[rodeo bill]

Hello Bill,

Where can i find a raw material for my home made jeans project? selvedge cotton..rivet.. etc? Any suggestion? Thanks - your jeans looks cool and for sure 'ORIGINAL'

thanks man:) even though I've tried to be as informative as I can so far, here's a reply I sent to a PM asking simliar questions a week or so back, which I think covers most of the questions I can answer (I hope the original sender doesn;t mind me including this):

1) how many yards/feet should i buy in denim? im going to buy cheap denim just for a test run

it depends if you use selvage or full width. Selvage is half the width, so you need twice as much. Full width is cheaper and easier to get. I bought 4m of selvage, or I could have used 2m of full width. I had a bit left, but to be safe I'd say that was a good guideline. It depends how tall you are, and how long you want the jeans to be of course. For comparison, I'm 5'10"

2) should i buy rivets and stitching? what other things do i have to buy

I prefer cotton thread (not polyester) as it's more authentic and will wear down with the denim, but poly is stronger. For rivets, I recommend you get them done for you, but you can buy rivetters (a bit like pliers), but they;re not always that strong. A good alteration tailors may have a rivet machine. Same for jeans buttons. Other than that it's up to you! You may want to get some leather for the patch?

3) is there a website you used to learn to make them? where can i learn to make jeans?

I'm sure there's something online somewhere, but I don;t know where. I've been making clothes (including jeans) for about 10 years, and I started by just looking at my own jeans and copying the bits I liked...

4) how much did you spend in total including all the denim you messed up etc.?

My denim cost about 30pounds for 4m, but that's quite expensive. You should be able to get some nice basic denim for quite a bit less than that. Apart from the cloth, I didn;t really spend anything:)- you'll have to pay to get rivets done though. Thread is very cheap.

5) if i go to a fabric store, do you think they'll have rivets and denim?

Depends where you go... in general, I'd say a big department store is more likely to have a good selcetion of thread, rivets etc, but the cloth selection may not be so great, but a smaller fabric store may hve better denim but no trims. Either way, ask in the shop and I'm sure they can recommend where you can buy the rest of the stuff you need.

[rodeo bill]

re snuff daddy and jyoni- YES! DO IT! and post pics here:D I really hope this thread can get things going for more sufu home-projects to be attempted/posted

[rodeo bill]

wow, you should make more bill! these are great designs!!

thanks! and also to Conie's comments (especially coming from someone who's gone beyond the one-off stage into mini-production). This project has started me daydreaming about setting out to do a small run for friends/fellow enthusuiasts, but to be honest it really is just day-dreaming. There's a lot I'm not remotely prepared for (size grading, proper machinery, confidence that what'll come out will have any kind of continuity with what I made last time etc etc...) If I do ever take the plunge you guys'll be the first to know:)

Rereading your comment you might well have just meant I should make another pair for myself and do better next time:D If so, I'm sure it;s just a matter of time before I get an itchy sewing-machine-peddle-foot again...

[rodeo bill]

What's the purpose of the leather?

to be honest I'm not that sure... It;s something I've seen around in vintage jeans photos, and I think Sugarcane have done jeans with this detail, as I'm sure have other repro companies. The only use I can imagine for it is where the fabric is thinner than is normally riveted, to give extra thickness and stop the rivet from being loose. Or it could just be even more support at the stress points.

I just like it, and I think it adds another dimension to the jeans (especially as I haven't used leather for the patch) Having said all that, if there weren;t leather disks pre-cut lying around when I got the rivets done I wouldn;t have used them:D

[mcallistermizy]

to be honest I'm not that sure... It;s something I've seen around in vintage jeans photos, and I think Sugarcane have done jeans with this detail, as I'm sure have other repro companies. The only use I can imagine for it is where the fabric is thinner than is normally riveted, to give extra thickness and stop the rivet from being loose. Or it could just be even more support at the stress points.

I just like it, and I think it adds another dimension to the jeans (especially as I haven't used leather for the patch) Having said all that, if there weren;t leather disks pre-cut lying around when I got the rivets done I wouldn;t have used them:D

Thanks a lot for the answer Bill.. about the leather i've seen Polo Ralph Lauren (mercer jeans-selvedge) use the leather for their upper button..but not for the rivet.Its cool anyway Bill.Can't wait to find raw material for my project.Have to look around or somewhere online.Your jeans inspire me Bill !!!!

[raWorkshop]

My attempt to give more rep splintered like a cheap arrow but those buttons are freaking cool Bill! I've got to get ride of these hammer/bench vice buttons. Did you use a press like this one?

[rodeo bill]

My attempt to give more rep splintered like a cheap arrow but those buttons are freaking cool Bill! I've got to get ride of these hammer/bench vice buttons. Did you use a press like this one?

thanks ra!

I know what you mean about using a hammer or a vice- I've done that in the past, and it's a real pity because in my opinion it's the only thing (apart from buttonholes, which are easier to get away with/get done) that you really can;t do all that well at home... On the last pair I made I used sew-on horn buttons to get round this, whixh actually worked out pretty cool.

This time though, I managed to get them done by a pro, so they're industrial-standard, using a proper powered press. It was really scary, cause there's no finger guard, and the gap under the head's easily big enough for your hand (you have to be able to push the rivet into it). You can;t see the safety swicth either cause it's under the jeans... then you press the switch and the peddle at the ame time and suddenly whatever was under the machine head has a rivet or a button through it- I was shitting myself:D