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

[fur]

so many possibility's .....pictures embroidered on!!!

[mizanation]

more sewing. kuniyoshi-san says he purposely makes the stitching a little uneven, so people can tell that it's hand-stitched.

we discussed how ironic it is that back in the day, people went to great lengths to do away with all the human errors in the process, but now, the "errors" are the only way you can tell if there was any humanity involved in the process at all. there is a scene in the will smith movie seven pounds where they talk about this.

[mizanation]

finishing up.

[mizanation]

he spins the fabric around real fast while he does this.

[mizanation]

done.

i have decided to have him draw a treble clef and staff with some notes. not sure which melody to have him put on there. two i am thinking of are "blue in green" by miles davis (wasn't thinking of BiG, but ironically, it's one of my favorite miles davis songs) and "naima" by john coltrane. i'm open for suggestions...

[eeriegardlessly]

what's the purpose of those flaps at the edges? hidden rivets?

[mizanation]

yeah, those flaps are where the hidden rivets go. i will post that part later.

['lejandro]

naima > blue in green

naima's amazing.

[snuff_daddy]

im so sold...where to contact/make order

[mizanation]

as kuniyoshi-san speaks no english and has no computer skills, he has asked me to handle all his orders. you can pm me.

[Linwe]

Awesome photography Miz on the spinning shot!

Love the stitching.

[mizanation]

time to talk bartacking. bartacking requires another machine. we moved to where this machine was. in the room were some of his favorite vintage t-shirts:

in the corner was a mic and a recording machine. i asked kuniyoshi-san what it was used for and he said his mom volunteers for an organization for visually impaired people. she records herself reading books and burns the audio onto cd. this way, people who are visually impaired can enjoy books and magazines that haven't been published in braille or audio. thought that was pretty cool of her.

anyways, here is the actual bartacking machine:

[mizanation]

first off, he always uses a dark thread for bartacking the pockets. if he uses a light colored thread it doesn't look good.

first he adjusts the size for the particular area. the bottom one is the size he's gonna go with.

time to do the damn thing:

and voila, we have a nice bartack.

[mizanation]

when you flip it over the pocket over, you can see that if he had used a light colored thread, it would have looked bad.

[mizanation]

where you put the bartack is also important. if you put the bartack too high up . . .

. . . when you flip the pocket over, you get a folded corner:

now, the back pockets are ready for hidden rivets.

[mizanation]

kuniyoshi-san wanted to show me a pair of vintage levi's that he owns.

[mizanation]

he believes they are from the early 60's. these jeans are unique because they show the period when levi's jeans were in transition.

these jeans have hidden rivets, so they are before 1966 when they stopped putting in hidden rivets.

however, the patch is paper, which means it's post 1954 when they did away with the leather patch. also, the "every garment guaranteed" is still visible which was removed sometime in the early 60's.

these are a pair of 501 ZXX's with the old school steel "gripper zipper."

the big E is holding on for dear life:

[chambo2008]

fucking great stuff will be looking to get some of these, thanks to you both for your time and effort !!!!

[lenn]

this thread just oozes awesomeness. please, please get a blog, miz, so we can follow you around on your everyday on your okinawan adventures.

[cheapmuthafukr]

subscribed

[bassmanpatsfan18]

Wow, great thread!

Here's another vote for Naima.

[benzak]

when you flip it over the pocket over, you can see that if he had used a light colored thread, it would have looked bad.

I always wondered how a bartack like that on the backpockets was made.. I always thought it was a different kind of bartack! now I get it, thank you miz!

[aho]

The wear on Kuniyoshi-san's jeans is looking pretty great as well....any chances we can get shots of his worn collection? amazing work miz!!

[redX]

man this thread just keeps getting better and better

[Planet Mental]

thread of the month? no no no, thread of the year. amazing stuff.

[Christmas In A Submarine.]

I'm going to pour another big cup of coffee and re-read this whole thread for the millionth time.

[prideffle]

kuniyoshia-san is a true artisan. He seems like a great guy too, seriously love this thread

[mizanation]

hidden pocket rivets.

kuniyoshi-san has a ton of different types of rivets and buttons.

[mizanation]

hidden rivets are different from regular rivets. they are much smaller.

[mizanation]

kuniyoshi-san keeps the parts for his riveter in an old first aid chest.