Handstitching Repair of Chainstitch

On the UES blog they've repaired some jeans using the method used to handstitch leather.
It's a nice idea. Handstitching like this is supposedly good construction because there are two threads which alternate side-to-side.

http://ajihei01.blog91.fc2.com/blog-entry-205.html

Repairs

Last week I made some repairs to the Eternals. I should've taken pics before the repairs, but I'm getting lazy with this blog. Hah.

Here's the result.


The seat had a crease which was starting to wear through, so I used a swatch of denim on the inside and just sewed back and forth.



The crotch had a hole, so I did the same there. You can see the repair thread more clearly here.



And the keys were really starting to destroy, the pocket, so some denim on the inside of the pocket, and sewing through the lot.



I'd been cuffing these since new, so there were parts of the cuff that were close to wearing through... so I did some zig-zagging without re-inforcing.



I'm not an expert on denim repairs, but these are my beginners tips:
- set the stitch length to quite short
- use a specific denim repair thread like this one from Gutermann

http://www.sewingselections.com.au/catalogue/Threads/Gutermann/2.html
It's a mix of blue and white, so it blends in with faded denim.

On the inside I used a black poly thread. I probably should have used the denim thread on the inside, but it seems okay.

500 things you should know: repair ripped jeans

How to repair ripped jeans. From the book "Show Me How - 500 things you should know".

via NotCot (there are some interesting things in this book - like catching fish bare handed!)

Eternal 811 - second wash and repairs

I've been using my experimental clean-by-brushing technique to keep my jeans away from water. It works well, I think you should try it. I think this method has given me more than six months of extra wear out of these jeans prior to each wash.


I had a few repairs to make. My keys wore a number of holes through the front left (my left) pocket, and the fly buttons had the stitching around the button hole coming off.


I used white cotton twill to repair the pocket bag - a combination of hand and machine stitching.

Maybe I'm lazy... I left the repairs badly finished, but it felt appropriate.



I zigzagged the fly button hole edges to re-enforce them (post wash pic).

During the repairs, the close-up work made me realise that I should wash these suckers ie. they stank. So I gave them a decent wash. Hot water, Dr. Bronners, quite a bit of hand agitation.

Some post-wash pics...

Honeycombs


Reverse combs


Yeah.


These are my favourite jeans at the moment. Wish I had a second pair.

Home Cobbler Action

I didn't like how my Allen-Edmonds have the edge of the sole and heel painted black. It is a thick black colour that looked plastic, and aesthetically the colour didn't fit with the cordovan of the shoe (see my previous pictures). So I sanded the black colour off to reveal the shades of layered leather.

I'm not actually sure what the top layer-edging material is. It's black, but I'm unsure if it's plastic.

The sanded leather was very pale, so I rubbed in some sno-seal which has created some darker-richer shades. It's not perfect, and my sanding is inconsistent, but it's a huge improvement on the black.