I know some purist will cringe at me doing this especially with Tony being gone now but when
When I bought my jacket I wasn't aware that I could get the black thread option. After seeing one online I loved the look of it. I wear this jacket every day and probably 90% of the time when I lay it down the side panel flips out and the insignia in bright gold letters stands out like a neon sign. I don't do it on purpose but to me it looks like I'm trying to advertise my authentic made jacket to all in view.
So today I took a bottle of pre-mixed liquid black Rit dye and dyed the letters. They came out looking like a dark brown that somewhat matches the leather! I filled the cap with about an 1/8" level of hot water and stuck a q-tip into the dye twice, stirring it into the water after each time. Then I applied the dye to the letters and wiped away excess with a rag.
I am more pleased with the results then if they were completely black. It toned the brightness of the letters down perfectly for my taste.
I agree, I think your lettering looks better than black. There is just enough contract to make it easy to read without the neon sign effect you mentioned.
tmurph wrote:It looks good but l would worry that the dye might later bleed back onto my shirt after a good rain.
I thought about that before starting. That is why I didn't use full strength dye. I was going to do a few applications of the very diluted dye to get to black without over doing it, but then liked the looks of the single application. I could test it by wetting the panel and lying it on an old white shirt but I'm not to concerned because the inside panel has never gotten wet even in a good Washington rain since owning it in Jan of 2009.
