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Selvedge tailoring disaster

animatedrouge2

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I got a cheapo pair of Gap selvedge ($90 originally, but I got it for $17. What a steal!) so I could get my feet wet with selvedge. The fit was a little funky, because I bought a waist-size bigger to account for shrinking when I soaked them. Well, I thought the jeans were sanforized, but they aren't. No big deal, I could just bring it to a tailor and get them tapered, hemmed, and the waist taken in, so they would be fitted perfectly to my body. I just got the jeans back from the tailor, and immediately and angrily found a few problems:
1) The tailor I expected to know what he was doing (he's been tailoring our family's clothes for years and has done a wonderful job) cut off the selvedge, and stitched it back like how a normal pair of jeans is stitched. But the stitch is already unraveling



2) The seat of the jeans is super baggy. It was never this baggy before I got it tailored, and looked perfectly flat and non-saggy. I'm guessing as he took in the waist, it puffed out the seat. I look like I have a dirty diaper on

3) He tapered them much further than I wanted, making myself unable to put them over my heels without stretching the jeans harder than I probably should stretch them
What could I do about all this? I'm going to have to talk to him about this, but it's not like he can un-tailor it and reattach the selvedge on it. Is there anyway I can fix any of this, just because I really don't like the idea of throwing down $60 on a pair of jeans that don't work.
Thank you guys so much for listening to me rant!
 

Bussit

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The fit was a little funky, because I bought a waist-size bigger to account for shrinking when I soaked them. Well, I thought the jeans were sanforized, but they aren't.

Wat. Were you trying to say you thought the jeans were unsanforized aka shrink-to-fit aka STF? Sanforized means the fabric went through the preshrink process. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanforization

2) The seat of the jeans is super baggy. It was never this baggy before I got it tailored, and looked perfectly flat and non-saggy. I'm guessing as he took in the waist, it puffed out the seat. I look like I have a dirty diaper on

The tailor probably assumed you wanted to keep the back rise intact. Dat yoke be looking booty, son.

3) He tapered them much further than I wanted, making myself unable to put them over my heels without stretching the jeans harder than I probably should stretch them

A tailor should have instructed you to wear the pants to gauge how much and where to chop per your request unless you just told him what you wanted and walked out.

Is there anyway I can fix any of this, just because I really don't like the idea of throwing down $60 on a pair of jeans that don't work.

I didn't know what I was doing with my first pair of selvedge jeanzes either. I eventually had my tailor hem and taper them to my specs while I wore it.
 
Last edited:

NefariousSabatour

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You wanted to get your feet wet, well...mission accomplished. Quite frankly you got off pretty light at 17 bones. Now you know what not to do for next time and its not like you dropped $200+ for a pair of butchered denim.
 

shellrust

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You wanted to get your feet wet, well...mission accomplished. Quite frankly you got off pretty light at 17 bones. Now you know what not to do for next time and its not like you dropped $200+ for a pair of butchered denim.

Agreed
 

bl@ster

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Take them to Goodwill. They are ruined.
 
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KingJulien

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Those gap jeans suck anyway. But now you know not to buy things that don't fit and expect a tailor to magically fix it (most tailors have no idea how to work with denim, by the way).
 

Listi

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There is no reason to buy cheap raw denim unless you absolutely cannot afford to buy decent raw denim. It would be worthwhile saving up 10 dollars a week for a few months to be able to buy a pair that actually works for you. Here is why I say this... raw denim becomes a part of you, it is something that will be part of your day-to-day wardrobe for months or years. For someone who cares about their clothing, the time investment is much more significant than the monetary investment. I bought a pair of Ande Whall jeans about 3 years ago? I still wear them more often than any other pair of pants I own, even to the neglect of the nice DH raws I really haven't put nearly enough time into. You could buy half a dozen pairs of cheap raw denim and spend 150-200 bucks trying to find a pair that works for you, or you could just spend the 150-200 up front and get an amazing pair that will bring you joy on a day-to-day basis for years.

The choice is yours, but it seems obvious to me. Throw these out, save up, and buy something better.
 

a tailor

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I have been a tailor for over 60 years and just learned about selvage a couple years ago.
your tailor had no idea that showing the selvage was important.
if you had the jean on and shown him what you wanted the result would have been better.

i just made a pair of selvage. i pre soaked it before cutting to shrink it. it did come down a little
when finished it had a 3 1/2 inch cuff and a comfortable fit.
after several wears i tossed them in the wash, and guess what.
the cuff is gone, now its just a plain bottom. and the fit is is extra snug.
well after the fit came back to just right. but thr cuff is gone forever.
i am still learning.
 

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