Self Edge Makes Jeans New Again.
My buddy Jian, who recently joined the Complex team, approached me about filming a video for their website about our jean repair process. With a mixture of excitement and trepidation, I agreed. I think the video turned out great; certainly a testament to the talents of the director, Jonathan Lees, and his team.
Darning jeans is a complex process because each jean is different and reacts differently to the machine, and each repair scenario has to be approached in a unique way. While the video makes the process look simple, it’s actually a task that generates regular headaches. Sometimes the machine acts up (it’s over 50 years old), sometimes the thread tangles and knots, and sometimes the timing is off. Sometimes I make a mistake and have to spend half an hour taking the repair apart and starting from scratch. I’ve spent more than a few evenings spent in our sweltering basement raining curses down on the machine. If not for the ongoing guidance and tutelage of Julian, who heads up Self Edge SF’s repair services, I might have given up by now.
Frustrations aside, I really enjoy the repair process. Since Johan and I design our own jeans but don’t manufacture them ourselves, I feel like darning holes and chainstitching hems are the closest I can get to jean (re)construction. There’s also a certain satisfaction that comes from handing a rebuilt pair back to an excited customer. Now, if only I could get people to wash their jeans before bringing them in… I’m not trying to get a staph infection here.
[...] know literally nothing about jean repair, so hearing Andrew Chen talk about the process of darning and repairing jeans at the Self Edge shop on the LES is quite [...]
Repairing jeans at Self Edge NY with Andrew Chen | Doobybrain.com
27 Aug 11 at 5:52 pm
really enjoyed this. knowing how involved the process it, you sure do make it look so easy.
dirbab
8 Oct 11 at 8:37 pm
Hey Andrew, this looks awesome…cool process. Any estimate on what it would cost to repair my APC New Standards? Crotch just started to rip after 2 years in…not badly, but there’s a hole.
Kyle
13 Oct 11 at 2:05 pm
@dirbab: Thanks!
@Kyle: We charge a flat $40 fee for any repairs done on jeans not bought at Self Edge. If you buy them from us, a small hole repair is free of charge and a full crotch rebuild would be $20 no matter how bad it is. Stop by sometime and we can take a look at them.
andrew
13 Oct 11 at 2:11 pm
[...] Andrew Chen’s darning blog post [...]
How To Repair Raw Denim Holes & Blowouts via Darning | Rawr Denim - Home of Everything Raw and Denim
4 Jan 12 at 7:02 am
Andrew,
I know I’m late to the party, but what is the sewing machine make and model that you are using to repair the denim in the video. And yes I have seen pictures of your Union Special chainstitch machine..drool…
Victor
5 Jan 12 at 7:08 pm
Your video has been so helpful to me! I thrifted a pair of tweedy shorts for my son, which had a 1″ hole in the leg. I thought I could hand-darn the hole closed but I was wrong–not working! I watched your video, and then used my free-motion quilting foot to do exactly what you did in the video. It SO worked. Thank you so much for sharing your expertise!
Jenny
2 Jun 12 at 7:58 pm
Glad it was helpful.
andrew
2 Jun 12 at 9:44 pm
Hi Andrew,
I’m really interested in denim and jeans and feel like starting one in my place too, I’m looking for this singer 47w70 but apparently its kind of rare here in south asia, or is there any other darning machines with cylinder arm will do the work too?
Please advise.
*would be much appreciated if you don’t mind to communicate through email*
Regards,
Terance Chen.
Terance Chen
10 Jun 12 at 9:49 am
Andrew, I noticed Self Edge isn’t accepting mail-ins for repairs at the moment…..can you recommend someone who does? Thanks
James
9 Nov 12 at 3:35 am