Small questions thread

[fncyths]

why on earth would you want to ruin the beautiful harnden fabric by dyeing it generic black.

dear gents.

is nothing sacred?

[lowrey]

is nothing sacred?

no, its clothing.

what if the same jacket or the same fabric existed in black, would it be less of a blasphemy?

[fncyths]

no, its clothing.

damn dude. let the money go round...



seriously though, I'm all for modification, within reason. It just makes more sense to me since Harnden maintains it's value to just send it down the road and get back what you paid for it. Then reinvest in the desired colour , fabric, and cut.

I think when it comes to classics (outside of the fashion realm) the universal rule of thumb can be applied here. Once something has been modified from it's pristine or original state, it no longer retains it's value...

[zamb]

i pulled a bit of the stitching off and burned it and it curled up into a ball so i think it is synthetic (polyester -> plastic). mattizzle's stitching is pretty dark, so not really a problem for him.

mine is very light. so, the only thing i can think to do is re-sew or sew over all the buttonholes. then the only contrast stitching left will be the topstitch. the seams. those are not as bold as the buttonholes, but still visible. so my thinking is that the only solution is to dye to a color that will not contrast with it. so maybe a brown or earthy color. coal. grey. carbon. something like that.

the one i want to dye is linen. i worry it will shrink a lot. but will it? it has already been washed once, right?

Don't have time to get into all the details of this now, and
PLEASE, I dont want any PM's asking me if I can do this for you from anyone.....

To solve this problem you need to dye the garment in two stages.

the first stage is to do a polyester dyeing to dye the threads first. you can purchase Polyester dye and the developer ( the fixative that bonds the dye to the Poly fibers) at a place in NYC called ALJO

After the threads are dyed, you can then do your regular cold dyeing for Linens, and acid dye for wools.

CJ, one of the tricks to minimize the shrinkage of the garment is to allow the dyebath to cool naturally before rinsing the garment. a lot of times natural fibres, especially wool, shrink because they are "shocked" by the sudden change of temperature.

Also dry the garment in a dryer using no heat and that should help to minimize the shrinkage...........

[fncyths]

zam,



might need a little help with these boss harnden knickers I got a few season back. can you dye these back to pearl white for me?

plz?

I've already sent them to your studio. thx in advance bro!

[drizzly]

lol and gross!

[lowrey]

seriously though, I'm all for modification, within reason. It just makes more sense to me since Harnden maintains it's value to just send it down the road and get back what you paid for it. Then reinvest in the desired colour , fabric, and cut.

reinvest? its not like those jackets exactly grow on trees, the sizing varies and the cuts change between seasons, so it could be impossible to find the same thing in another color or fabric. If someone finds an otherwise perfect jacket, then why not fix that one issue with it. changing the color might sound like a big deal, but if its relatively easy to do, why not.

I'm not speaking for either of the people considering this as I don't know the premises, this is just general thinking.

I think when it comes to classics (outside of the fashion realm) the universal rule of thumb can be applied here. Once something has been modified from it's pristine or original state, it no longer retains it's value...

its still clothing. if you are buying an item of clothing for the sole reason of it holding value, I can safely say I have entirely different reasoning, hence the disagreement.

[Faust]

Don't have time to get into all the details of this now, and
PLEASE, I dont want any PM's asking me if I can do this for you from anyone.....

[michael_kard]

Thanks for the tips Zam. Could you share your preferred polyester dye brand? The site you linked to above won't load for me.

[cjbreed]

thanks so much for the info zam.

there is no way in the world i am going to try to do this myself though. there is a good chance the jacket will burst into flames if i do. i think i'll email colibri and see if they'll do it according to your suggestions.

there are good instructions on that site though. it may in fact be easy to do at home.

oh my...what to do.

[Dane]

After trying to dye a simple cotton sweatshirt with mediocre results, I would never try anything like a jacket (of value). Send to a pro.

[Chinorlz]

Thanks for the tips Zam. Could you share your preferred polyester dye brand? The site you linked to above won't load for me.

ALJO is the NY based company

[lowrey]

After trying to dye a simple cotton sweatshirt with mediocre results, I would never try anything like a jacket (of value). Send to a pro.

lol. I started with a few t-shirts and such and after getting the hang of it, I've dyed a few more "risky" piece such as a pair of ccp jeans. I wanted them slightly darker grey, and have gotten a ton of more wear out of them

[eton97]

I was thinking about doing that to my kit CCP jeans. The original pairs were a browny grey and I'd like a darker grey.
I assume it will also accentuate the overlock dead end stitching....
What mix did you use? Dylon black or antique grey? Whole box?

[lowrey]

yea, if I remember correctly the same colour code came in either brownish grey or a darker grey. mine were probably the same as yours. I used 50/50 black and grey Dylon. Don't remember how much though, but you can always redye / add more, so probably better to go with a bit less first. If you do it by hand, you really need to work it into the fabric and let it soak in between to avoid any streaks as the denim is pretty stiff.