Karin Schrey - Jeany in Jeans

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO SASCHA AND CHRISTINE

JEANY SAYS THANK YOU !

To all those who helped to make this book on the history of jeans. Without their information, photos and suggestions it would never have been finished:

Dr. Tanja Roppelt,

Levi-Strauss-Museum Buttenheim;

Claudia Gottfried, Rheinisches Industriemuseum Cromford;

Eric Kluge, Bing Bamberg;

... and the models Jasmin and Nadine Mielke.

SHEEP ON A COTTON PLANTATION ? COTTON ? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM ? FROM THE SHEEP, LIKE WOOL ? BUT :

Cotton? Where does it come from?

GROW YOUR OWN COTTON PLANT. GROW YOUR OWN COTTON PLANT Place a cotton seed in water overnight; mix some potting soil with some sand in a shallow dish and plant the seed approx. 0,5 inch below the surface; cover the dish with plastic foil (keep moist, not wet, but don’t forget to water!) and put it in a warm, light place; when the plant has several leaves on it, you can re-pot it, i.e. plant it in a flower pot with normal potting soil. Tie it to a stick and give it some fertiliser now and then. When the weather is very warm, you can even put your cotton plant outdoors. If all goes well, you may even be able to harvest it. There are still cotton seeds, small bits of the plant and dirt stuck between the fine fibres. Before the cotton can be processed, it must be ginned. Pressed into large bales, the cotton now begins its journey. Cotton is at home in hot countries. Here it grows in fields. Cotton needs a lot of sunshine. It doesn’t like cold at all. In the southern part of the United States, in the Orient and in Asia there are huge cotton fields. They are called plantations. The plants produce yellow, white or red flowers. The flowers in turn produce the fruit of the cotton plant, the bolls, that the seed fibres grow in. When they are ripe, the cotton bolls burst open and the cotton fibres come out. They look like white balls of cotton-wool. These are harvested. There are still cotton seeds, small bits of the plant and dirt stuck between the fine fibres. Before the cotton can be processed, it must be ginned. Pressed into large bales, the cotton now begins its journey.

JEANY AT THE SPINNING JENNY. HOW COTTON IS TURNED INTO YARN:

How cotton is turned into yarn.

THE SUN TURNS IT BLUE !

How does it do that? “Blue Monday”?

WARP, WEFT AND SHUTTLE.

A blue thread and a white one.

TRY YOUR HAND AT WEAVING TWILL.

COLUMBUS AND THE BLUE SAIL.

“Gene” and “Denim”– what’s that?

FROM A VILLAGE IN FRANCONIA.

Who invented jeans?

ALL VERY RIVETING !

What turns a pair of trousers into jeans?

TURNING COPPER INTO GOLD !

Rivets save the day!

THE WILD, WILD WEST.

The right trousers for real men.

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL AND COOL CHICKS.

“Blue jeans” take the “wild” kids.

JEANS BECOME FASHIONABLE.

From school to the disco.

WHAT IS IT ?

JEANS FOREVER !

From the first jeans to the last.

Jeany looked in the mirror and discovered that he was different from all other teddy bears that he knew. “I’m blue,” he said. And that’s not all. “I don’t have a soft, cuddly fur, either. No, I’m made of a very special material: denim. And that is made from cotton.”

COTTON ? WHERE DOES IT COME FROM ?

FROM THE SHEEP, LIKE WOOL ? BUT :

“Course not,” laughed Jeany. Cotton has nothing to do with sheep, even though that’s what people in Europe, where cotton was unknown, thought for a long time. It was said that a sheep named Barometz supplied the cotton.

Others said there were plants from whose seedpods little sheep were hatched. That sounds funny, but when these seedpods–called bolls–pop open, they really do look like sheep, Jeany thought. They’re so soft and cosy! Really cuddly. But all the things they have to go through!

Poor cotton! It is knocked, beaten, scratched. And then it is also given a hefty spinning.

Cotton is at home in hot countries. Here it grows in fields. Cotton needs a lot of sunshine. It doesn’t like cold at all. In the southern part of the United States, in the Orient and in Asia there are huge cotton fields. They are called plantations. The plants produce yellow, white or red flowers. The flowers in turn produce the fruit of the cotton plant, the bolls, that the seed fibres grow in. When they are ripe, the cotton bolls burst open and the cotton fibres come out. They look like white balls of cotton-wool. These are harvested.

Place a cotton seed in water overnight;

mix some potting soil with some sand in a shallow dish and plant the seed approx. 0,5 inch below the surface;

cover the dish with plastic foil (keep moist, not wet, but don’t forget to water!) and put it in a warm, light place;

when the plant has several leaves on it, you can re-pot it, i.e. plant it in a flower pot with normal potting soil.

Tie it to a stick and give it some fertiliser now and then. When the weather is very warm, you can even put your cotton plant outdoors. If all goes well, you may even be able to harvest it.

There are still cotton seeds, small bits of the plant and dirt stuck between the fine fibres. Before the cotton can be processed, it must be ginned. Pressed into large bales, the cotton now begins its journey. Cotton is at home in hot countries. Here it grows in fields. Cotton needs a lot of sunshine. It doesn’t like cold at all.

In the southern part of the United States, in the Orient and in Asia there are huge cotton fields. They are called plantations.

The plants produce yellow, white or red flowers. The flowers in turn produce the fruit of the cotton plant, the bolls, that the seed fibres grow in. When they are ripe, the cotton bolls burst open and the cotton fibres come out. They look like white balls of cotton-wool. These are harvested. There are still cotton seeds, small bits of the plant and dirt stuck between the fine fibres. Before the cotton can be processed, it must be ginned. Pressed into large bales, the cotton now begins its journey.

HOW COTTON IS TURNED INTO YARN: