A Revelation

[Ravenswood]

The Custom ROLA I got has 24 inch sleeves. I specifically asked for 24.5. Nuff said. I gotta send the jacket back...thought this was worthy of a new post.
Again...Rats, lol.....its SUCH a NICE JACKET OTHERWISE.......

[RCSignals]

you could probably do with asking for 25 or 25.5" sleeve length looking at the photo.

[Ravenswood]

dare i ask, if i start making substantive changes to my original order....(?) you know where I'm going with thi$...

[crismans]

dare i ask, if i start making substantive changes to my original order....(?) you know where I'm going with thi$...

Sadly, Holt's experience seems to be the norm. You're going to be paying for their mistake. It's your choice, of course, but I'd consider cutting my losses, sell it, and choose something from one of our other fine vendors.

[Kt Templar]

Possibly might. But it's worth going slightly too long. Easy to get them shortened locally. Virtually impossible to get them lengthened.

If you are going to get new sleeves put on, you might as well.

[Ravenswood]

haha, lol....it's gonna sound like i'm waffling, but hear me out: What I have here is in my mind a perfectly screen accurate Raiders jacket. If I saw this on Ebay, I'd probably buy it....then stretch the sleeves out Food for thought...now I'm going out for errands and some fresh air Thanks for all your input!

[Michaelson]

If I saw this on Ebay, I'd probably buy it....then stretch the sleeves out

Yeah, maybe so, but you didn't. You ordered this custom, and paid them extra for that effort.

You're going to 'make do' after paying extra money.

I salute you trying to make the best out of a bad situation. It's your money. If that makes you feel better, lock and load.

Regards! Michaelson

[knibs7]

Is it even possible for Wested to make a jacket correctly, with your specs the FIRST TIME???

Kyle

[Ravenswood]

I got the extra length...heheh, it was easier than I expected it would be. Pictures soon...letting it dry...then I gotta go BACK to Spring cleaning. My roommates are giving me the harry eyeball! LOL

[Holt]

did you do what I suggested in your other thread?

[Ravenswood]

Yup! And I even added a tad of length to the front panels. Just wetting it down and ever so gradually tugging on it...Piece of cake.. Now I just gotta let it dry so that it doesn't look all frumpy, lol...as you can imagine, there's a little waviness to the leather now. Hoping that will settle down a bit when it dries...We'll see!

[Holt]

you got to keep pulling on the sleeves so they dont shrink back to its original length when it dries. put the jacket on while drying that way you can control the shrinking.

[Ravenswood]

Roger that! Thanks Holt!

[Forrest For the Trees]

I've stretched sleeves like that on my lambskin jacket. It worked great, but watch those seam stitches! They'll pop open if you are not careful...

[Ravenswood]

thanks guys, yup, i thought i heard the lining on the inside give a stitch or two but i examined all the seems, and they held up beautifully.
I even added a little length to the front panels, thereby reducing the effect of the extra leather in the chest. It's got less of a boxy look now.
Pictures tomorrow, folks. I'm gonna let this dry out....HOLY maceral it's nice! I am SO glad I went this route!

[Kevin Anderson]

Sadly, I think you'll find it will shrink back to it's original size over time. Always better to order at least an inch over size for sleeves.

[RCSignals]

As long as you are happy with having to do this.

Did some of the fold lines come out of the body of it?

[crismans]

I certainly hope that you are and, perhaps even more importantly, remain happy with your purchase. There have been some jackets that had an issue that I wasn't happy with but I told myself that it was fine, I liked the jacket anyway.

I always have ended up selling them.

I'm not saying this is the case here, though, and I hope it doesn't turn out to be.

[Ravenswood]

Thanks for your well wishes folks. And you guessed it, the length I got initially has shrunken back almost to where it was straight out of the box. I gained about a half inch & managed to get the cuffs to extend comfortably past the wrist bump. For a while though, I was able to get that look where the sleeves extend all the way to the first thumb knuckle. BUT I only see that length (in screenshots) where Indy is in the temple, just after he and Satipo cross the abyss. More often than not, you seeing most of Indy's hands. I know I can over think this all I want, and this is the classic forum in which we can feel free to do this, but at the end of the day, the sleeves match perfectly the length I had on my 2003 custom, which I was always comfortable with.
I treated my new acquisition for hours last night, and I've done this with a couple of my prior jackets, with satisfactory results. I realize there STILL may be shrinkage pending, but I'm pretty sure this will hold for the long haul
The difference is not so dramatic that it requires pics, but I'm certain I'll be posting a few "post water treatment" shots anyways...the leather is incredible, and it's got more of that crinkly look that is so prevalent in the Hawaii jacket. Stay tuned
And yes RC, the fold lines disappeared rather quickly.

[Holt]

I knew it. same happend to me the first time I did it. I had to do this 3 times and then they stayed were I wanted them to be. so dont give up. just keep wetting/pulling the leather gently and it will give.

[theman]

It just stinks that you had to go through this Ravenswood... I agree w/ RC and some others, definitely could have used another inch or so in the sleeve length from the start for the correct proportions and to have it hit your thumb knuckle correctly after the sleeves had crinkled up a bit. And now that you are stretching sleeves I really worry about the longevity of your sleeve linings. Those have always been luck of the draw as to if they would survive more than a year of wear even without any stress on the sleeves like this. That is nice that you can settle for what you already have there, but you shouldn't really have to settle.

[Ravenswood]

You're right, Theman...
I oughta lambaste the admin over there for lack of qc. But what the heck. The know what they're doing....right?

[Holt]

right.


i wanna see new pics. when are they comming?

[Ravenswood]

Ok Holt
I have no good sunlight, but Im gonna do you (and the rest here at COW) a solid and get the camera up on the tripod for some timed shots. Wouldn't you know it, my lovely assistant, Vanna White, has hit the sack as soon as I got home from work. Just a little "pop time" and I'll get some shots up

[crismans]

The know what they're doing....right?

This certainly has been demonstrated time and time again, hasn't it?

[Ravenswood]

check out my new post
Thanks to Holt's advice, I think I got a better fit now.