Use of Denim

[Dan Munson]

Re: Use of Denim

For what it may be worth to anyone, Don Smith (Trans Miss Dept Co.) has made a couple of pairs of "jeans" a la the way Levi Strauss (and others?) were putting them out in the 1850s and 1860s. I have seen Don in them, and they (the jeans) look very nice.

Piney Woods in just a few days...Can't Wait!!

[Citizen_Soldier]

Re: Use of Denim

Greetings,
It will be a few days before I'm able to spend time taking a look at some online fabric sources for period appropriate denim. My sources were modern fabric vendors who infrequently would have some denim in stock that compared favorably to original garments I had viewed.

I would also be willing to send you a scrap piece of some good denim I found so you can compare it to fabric in local venues at your location. Just PM or email me at ddorwig@gmail.com for my mailing address and I'll have you send a self addressed stamped envelope my way.

Darrek Orwig

[USSanCom]

Re: Use of Denim

It's been about 15 yrs since my visit there, but if anyone is around Independence, MO, there was a little museum there attached to the U.S. Marshall's museum. I believe there was a one room schoolhouse there as well. Inside they had what was supposedly a denim uniform. I took pictures at the time, but they are probably in storage somewhere.

[Possum Skinner]

Re: Use of Denim

Alas, all that material is long gone except for pieces. To be honest, my trousers made from it have about run their course.

The material I made those trousers from was a cotton jean, not a denim, although it does have a similar look. Ben Tart was the maker of that material.

As far as me ever hand felling, hand sewing, and putting together 20 pairs again; I had rather be scrubbed with a wire brush and thrown in one of Mrs. Terre's dye pots...in July...

Also, we used measurements and photos of an original pair to make those pants, that's one reason I hand felled all the seams like the originals. The original pair had a multi-colored weft, mostly white and pink, but we could not replicate that. Unfortunately, a hard drive crash and the subsequent theft of my digital camera has caused those pics to disappear. The gentleman who owns that pair of trousers lives in the Atlanta area and was a mainstream reenactor. I need to look his info up and see if I can go document those pants again.