Over the last month I’ve been sampling a range of new pieces: a Type-2 denim jacket, a pair of women’s jeans, and some wider-fit jeans.
Alongside that, the biggest step forward has been upgrading the workshop.
Over the last few years I’ve been slowly refining how I make jeans. One area that was holding things back was not having a proper bartack machine to secure belt loops and stress points correctly. That’s now been sorted.
I picked up a Brother LK3 bartack machine from Dawson Denim, who were selling off some of their equipment.
At the same time, I also bought a 1960s Union Special overlocker. That machine will now be used on pocket bags and inseams, and it finally allows me to offer a traditional flat fly construction rather than the one-piece fly I’ve used up to this point.
Both constructions have their place, but the one-piece fly is slightly bulkier. Moving towards a more traditional button fly has been on the list for a while, and without a proper overlocker it’s not really possible to do it justice. For inseams, I’ll be using a mix of flat-felled and overlocked seams depending on the model — both are valid, and both suit different garments.
After a long stretch of frustration and procrastination, I’ve also finally got my off-the-arm chain stitch machine running properly. An engineer came in and got everything dialled, and it’s now ready for regular use. That machine will be used for pockets, jacket details, and areas where a traditional chain stitch finish makes sense.
I hope to update this news/blog section more regularly going forward. My plan is to continue making custom pieces (likely one per month), alongside small pre-sale drops of three to five items at a time. Whether that works or not remains to be seen.. Drop me a line if you want something custom made.
There are also a handful of pieces that haven’t made it onto the website yet. Some are samples with minor imperfections — part of the design process — and others are simply odd sizes.
They’ll go live on the website in a few weeks. For the time being subscribers have first refusal.
Thanks for making it this far
Marcus