so, i'm having a pair of jeans made . . . .

[mizanation]

so, this afternoon, i went over to kuniyoshi-san's workshop, nestled in the back streets of koza city, okinawa.

he left his trusty redwings outside the door.

btw, he will be in next month's lightning magazine, showcasing his vintage t-shirt collection.

nice warm welcome:

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he had already cut the denim for my jeans, which was a little disappointing cuz i wanted to take pics of him cutting.

these are all the pieces laid out:

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luckily, he had another pair he had to cut that day. so, he said i could take pictures of him cutting up and sewing this pair.

first, he unrolled the denim:

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he picked out the appropriate pieces of pattern.

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i asked him to tell me more about the denim.

he says that it's a repro of some vintage cone mills double x denim. he says that japanese denim factories over the years have analyzed various fabrics to measure things like the yarn thickness, the weave, etc. they check to see if the yarn thickness is consistent or if it varies, they will see how long the fibers of the yarn are, etc.... then, after they have the data, they try to create a denim that comes close to the original. however, he says that there are a couple modifications made on this fabric. there are more weft (horizontal) threads to make a tighter weave. also, the indigo dye is extra dark.

close up:

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compare this denim to another type of denim which has both a looser warp weave and a looser weft weave:

you can see that the fabric has undulations and is kinda wavy.

now, here is the first denim and you can see that it is much flatter:

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next, arranging the pattern pieces onto the denim...

after that, outlining the pieces...

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making marks so he can later cut the area for the hidden pocket rivets.

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cutting:

left-over cuttings. he uses these to test his sewing machine to make sure they are stitching evenly.

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next, pressing the pieces before sewing.

the water tank for the iron looks dirty, but there is some chemical in there that keeps microbes from growing in the water.

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he wanted to show me a little detail on the coin pocket.

japanese denim enthusiasts would notice that sometimes the selvage would peek out on the sides of the coin pocket. back in the day, this was considered a manufacturing flaw that was a sign of hastily made jeans. however, the japanese denim heads thought it was kinda cool, so kuniyoshi-san always makes the selvage peek out a little.

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bobbin

bobbin case

thread

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testing the stitch. he has to adjust the tension so that both the top stitch and bottom stitch are even.

see how with the first stitch, you can see the thread from the other side popping through? the bottom stitch is much better.

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sewing...

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pocket bag.

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back when he used to work in a factory in okayama, he worked with a bunch of older women who had been sewing for decades. they would get pissed off at him when he would use only one foot on the sewing treadle. the old ladies would say that only amateurs use one foot.

real professionals always use both feet, they would say.

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another detail he showed me was puckering on the pocket stitching. again, puckering is actually considered bad sewing. however, the japanese noticed puckering on some of the vintage jeans and liked it. so, kuniyoshi-san likes to add a little puckering to the pocket stitching...

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many people sew the pockets flat, so it is hard to slide your hands into the pockets. kuniyoshi-san likes to sew the pocket with a little bit of breathing room. another little detail that he likes to put in his jeans.

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i helped myself to a chocolate treat.

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overlock stitching....

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he showed me some samples of denim.

to show you how specific these fabrics can get, this is a repro of a 1945 WWII denim.

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sewing the fly. he says this is one of the most difficult parts to sew.

measuring...

sewing the two halves together....

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the finished front half.

[Newman]

Incredible! And very interesting!

[fur]

this is great,thank you for sharing this experience with us

[mizanation]

it was cool to see all the little details that kuniyoshi-san puts into these jeans. he really is an expert on jean construction.

to get an idea of how well he knows this stuff, i asked him how many jeans he has made and he says that he has worked on over 300,000 pairs of jeans over the past 10 years. there was a time when he was part of an assembly line that churned out 250 pairs a day.

over 300,000 pairs of jeans.

[chambo2008]

miz, as allways this is a great thread please keep it up

[TTM]

lol, hes probably thinking "Damn demin head sticking his camera in my face"

Good stuff, very interesting. An artisan at work.

[raWorkshop]

Amazing. Throw this up on the wiki!

Also, did he flat fell the center front crotch seam or did he just stitch and serge?

[benzak]

inspiring...