Four stars for Bobbie and TM! Yes, the term jean is a form of Genoa which is indeed in Italy. The French word for that city is Gênes which morphed into the English word jeans. There has been debate as to whether Nîmes, France or Genoa, Italy was the place where denim originated, but most of the fabric imported by England was from Genoa and then there is historical evidence from mid-17th century art: Until now, there were only fragmented written records to rely on to document the shipments of the low-cost fabric that flooded from Genoa into northern Europe -- and especially England -- in the mid-17th century. But art historians believe the newly-discovered works were painted somewhere around Venice, suggesting that jeans have Italian, rather than French, ancestry. "In people's minds, jeans used to be all about Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, about the United States," said Francois Girbaud, a designer who helped curate the exhibition. "Nimes or Genoa? I don't have the answer. But it's amusing to think that jeans already existed in 1655." Establishing exactly where jeans originated has been difficult because few records documenting their earliest manufacture and export survived. Unlike finely embroidered clothing owned by the aristocracy, which has ended up in collections and museums, denim was favoured by the working class, who wore it until it fell to pieces and had to be discarded. "We have accounts from an English tailor saying that his fabric came from Genoa, and that is the origin of jeans," said the curator of the exhibition, Gerlinde Gruber. "But this gives us new documentary proof of a historical reality that has been forgotten." Sailors from Genoa wore clothing from the fabric. Thanks for playing, you two. Have a lovely Sunday. It is cool enough for jeans here this morning, but it will be back to shorts by mid-day. :) Cynthia

I believe that the heat from the dryer would cause color fading and maybe shrinking. Kevinm, I had to chuckle about at this one as my wife purchases jeans that fit just right without any allowances for the natural shrinkage (even if they are pre-washed jeans) and since I learned how to do the laundry properly since childhood I do all our laundry that does not get sent to the dry cleaners. I always must hang my wife's jeans to dry while all mine get tossed into the dryer. The dryer will not fade your jeans (the washer will), but it will shrink them down a bit (a lot if they are not pre-shrunk) requiring you to physically wear them to regain the size you want. You can simply throw your jeans into the dryer after they are completely dry and run them on a fluff cycle to rid most of the stiffness.

Do you have elastic on hand? It would be hard to justify charging them for your trip to the store to pick up elastic, but if you're going to be doing this regularly, trips to the store have to be factored into your price somehow. (Or the cost to buy supplies and have them shipped to you has to be factored in). I've worked in dry cleaners and alteration shops and I can tell you they price services to average out to about $45 per hour in my part of the world. It isn't cheating to call the dry cleaner pretending to be a customer and ask. It's certainly okay to charge a rush fee, too. In the store where I work right now, hemming trousers is $19. It's $15 at our competitor. They want elastic, more. They don't like the price, [shrug] you haven't reached a meeting of the minds, then. And do you have a measurement for the elastic where it's going to be on his leg, or is that *another* meeting with your customer which = time added to the project? My conscience would be clear in charging $20 a pair. If they didn't want to pay that, I wouldn't feel bad. They have options. In the big city near me, there is an hour exchange. Any person who wishes to invest his or her own time in the time bank can spend their accrued hours on alterations. Of course to spend the hours, one has to accrue the hours by *providing service to others free of charge.* I have suggested this to people who looked disappointed at the price of services my employers offered. Occasionally, someone looks kind of enthused about the idea of that kind of community exchange.

This is old, but it has some good information. I ordered some new needles yesterday, and I bought Singer needles because they are color coded. I see now that I could color code my own needles with nail polish - I never thought of that, but it is a great idea. Now I guess I'll have to buy some red nail polish - all I have is green, turquoise, purple, and yellow, plus a gold metallic, but I don't think that would show up as well. I used to have black, but I cannot find it. I've had to change needles frequently when sewing Sunbrella fabric. I have regular, leather, and ball-point needles. I'm not sure what the difference is with regard to knit vs stretch, unless it is needle size. I've been using regular jersey ball-point needles to sew both knits/jersey and Lycra - plus elastic. Most of my needles are Schmetz, and it is next to impossible to read the needle size engraved on the needles. I've been taking close-up photos of the needles on my phone and then zooming in to try to read the numbers, but it is still difficult. Who ever thought that this was a good idea?