Shrink to fit tips?

[Sloan1874]

Just had a first shot and shrinking down a pair of LVC pantaloons and despite sitting in a hot bath feeling silly for a good 10 minutes, they seem to have barely contracted. Either my expectations were too high or I've been doing this wrong, but can anyone offer me a few pointers to get the damn things to shrink properly?

 

[robrinay]

You must have seen this?

http://www.aeroleatherclothing.com/upfiles/LVC SHRINK TO FIT GUIDE.PDF

My Gustins recently 'benefited' from a 60 degree wash and a hot tumble dry but that's pretty drastic - they were sanforised but still shrank a bit. I did it to max the shrinkage before having them professionally turned up. In the 60's with original shrink to fit 501s we did what you did -sat in a 'hot as you can take it' bath till it went cool. Then we wandered around until they were damp and slid them off to dry over the banisters.
They continued to shrink over several washes so we turned them up cuffs showing so as not to wear a white line on the blue side where they rubbed shoes- till they'd stopped shrinking and only then had our mums turn them up on the machine.

 

[Sloan1874]

I may give the washing machine treatment a go, just to see what happens. I'm probably closer to 29" than 30", so getting the full shrinkage is what I'm looking for.

 

[willyto]

As I understood from the Levi's Vintage Clothing tips if you just wanted to do the bath thing you should have bought the 30x34 since they do not shrink that much on the waist. Since you bought the 32x34 you're stuck with this 2 options:

I guess your best bet is to put them on the washing machine to shrink them as much as possible if they are big now. It says not to tumble dry or they will shrink too much, if you get them a bit loose after washing them you have a last thing to try there. I read about some people not getting enough shrink on the waist but putting them on the bath but that's to be expected from the fit guide.

I'm waiting for mine and I guess I will have to do the washing machine option. Depending on the results and fit I guess I could order a different size if they're still in stock.


EDIT: I already took a bath and let them dry naturally. It seems like they haven't shrink at all, just a bit and they still fit loose and big . I guess I will have to wash them in the machine and then if they don't shrink enough I will have to tumble dry them, otherwise I won't be able to wear them. I guess this pantaloons are big for it's size and they don't seem to shrink much for now.

 

[willyto]

I had to wash them again at a higher temperature(60ºC) and then decided to tumble dry them for mazimum shrinkage. They definetely shrinked and they fit well enough for now. I guess I will have to use suspenders anyway but I like the fit of this pants. The only thing is that the leather patch got a lot of blue colour on it but it doesn't matter. I expect them to shrink over time after washing them a few more times.

I haven't wear them yet but I'm doing this to shrink them as much as possible since I need to lose weight and then probably I will have to tailor them a bit. I recommend you to tumble dry the pantaloons and see if they fit you then.

This picture in Nigel Cabourn's Instagram from the guys in his office shows a pair of this Levi's:

It seems everyone is using suspenders on them.

 

[LuvMyMan]

To speed up a pair of jeans to shrink is not so hard but you do have to be careful...I tend to put in super hot water and spin dry in the washer (not washing them just getting them soaked and hot and spun dry to remove excess water) and then toss them in a dryer by themselves. This normally will take an inch or more off the length and about 1/2 inch from the waist. I think if you gave this a try, you would have the results you need and it save you from having to mess around wearing wet and clammy jeans.

I do not always follow manufactures suggestions on jeans. I make mention of this as not so long ago the CEO of Levis stated he never washes his jeans ever. No dry cleaning no nothing to clean them...ask yourself how that would feel? Ewwww! Sweat and dead skin cells do nothing attractive to me! LOL!

 

[fiftyforfifty]

To speed up a pair of jeans to shrink is not so hard but you do have to be careful...I tend to put in super hot water and spin dry in the washer (not washing them just getting them soaked and hot and spun dry to remove excess water) and then toss them in a dryer by themselves. This normally will take an inch or more off the length and about 1/2 inch from the waist. I think if you gave this a try, you would have the results you need and it save you from having to mess around wearing wet and clammy jeans.

I do not always follow manufactures suggestions on jeans. I make mention of this as not so long ago the CEO of Levis stated he never washes his jeans ever. No dry cleaning no nothing to clean them...ask yourself how that would feel? Ewwww! Sweat and dead skin cells do nothing attractive to me! LOL!

Very informative, and workable reply