Sugarcane 1955: Part II, What I Didn't Like

Not to seem like I'm really complusive about stuff, but I found that the fading on the hems was really disappointing. I got this hemmed to length, so I got rid of the orignal chainstitched hem. The guy who hemmed them for me has a chainstitching machine, but as I look at the fading on the hems I don't really see any roping happening in a serious way.

Here are a few pictures of the sugarcane hem:



































So there is the fading, but its not on the angle that one usually associates with roping.

For comparison purposes:

hem detail on a pair of LVC 501's, these were not raw they came with a wash (they are the Heath's)



















This is a pair of PRPS selvage which came with a wash



















Both the LVC and the PRPS have the roping effect. Those are the original hems.

At first I though maybe the roping would only come from repeated washing. So I looked at PRPS dark selvage that have about 3 weeks of wear. These have been soaked twice to get rid of some salt stains. (The sugarcanes were washed once)





















































These PRPS have the roping effect starting to come in, but it's not as extreme as that on the the washed ones. I have noticed that the thread the guy used on the hems was a little flimisier than that on the the LVC and the PRPS jeans. Maybe that has something to do with it. I'm not sure if the guy has a Union machine or something else. Could that have an effect?

In the end, I'm disappointed because I went out of my way to get the chainstitched hem to preserve a vintage detail, but I'm not getting the desired effect. I mean I could have gone to the Laotian guy who hemmed my APC Rescues and gotten the similar fading on the hem. Here are the APCs, so you can see what I mean.