Let me start by saying I sure hope Chewie doesn't see this thread.
I have a SPECTACULAR Magnoli Lambskin Raiders Jacket that I adore. Well today I broke my rule and wore it to work. In my haste to accomplish some mundane task that corporate America set before me (im the Loss Prevention Manager at a Macy's for another week until I start my new city job) I snagged part of the left side by the strap on a part of a door frame and it tore. Nothing against the jacket, I was moving FAST. It woulda happened to any jacket. I am curious if it is fixable. Uploading pics from the mobile phone.
I think im gonna drink a glass of Pecards and pray to that this can be fixed.
Perhaps you could put a leather stitch behind the tear, then another on top of it? I don't know anything about making things out of leather, but maybe you could do it the same way they repair a pair of Jeans? With a patch of the same material, maybe you could iron it onto the rip, and underneath and hope for the best?
Like I said, I don't know anything about leather making, but hope this helps somewhat.
Good luck!
Regards from an extraordinary gentleman: baddates1
It's repairable, just depends on your feelings about 'scarring'. Check around for a leather worker/tailor. If you go to a tailor, make sure you verify they have experience working with leather.
Looks like it won't be in a overly noticeable place so you should be fine.
You just have to come up with a better story about how it got ripped.
"You see, there was this baby and a grizzly bear...."
Indiana Jeff wrote:It's repairable, just depends on your feelings about 'scarring'. Check around for a leather worker/tailor. If you go to a tailor, make sure you verify they have experience working with leather.
Looks like it won't be in a overly noticeable place so you should be fine.
You just have to come up with a better story about how it got ripped.
"You see, there was this baby and a grizzly bear...."
Regards,
Indiana Jeff
Awesome thanks! TONS of leather people out here luckily. Might take it to my holster guy, he said he used to make jackets. As far as the story it reminds of an almost 4" scar on my left arm. People always ask... Sadly the real story is it is an old Gracie Jiu Jitsu injury...nope not a cool story. One of our teammates was kind of grimey and had long nails, his toenail literally sliced my arm open during rolling one day. Try sounding cool with a "yea some dudes toenail cut my arm" story.
Yes, that is repairable, though you might want to look up someone to do it for you.
Theoretically it goes something like this: Inside you put a hot glue impregnated sheet of fabric as backing then you position the hole over it so it is matched up and then iron it so the hole is closed to activate the glue. Then using coloured liquid leather repair stuff you join up and hide the tear. (It's basically PVA glue with colouring in it).
You'll probably end up with a bit of a 'scar', where the hole was. But you never know!
Havent done anything yet. Been busy getting my truck ready for winter and such. Plus the weekend etc.
Come to think of it I need to do wash. Thanks Jeff! Headed back to MD for a week on Wed and our friends are staying to dog sit. Gotta clean entire place.
Before you do anything, I would contact Magnoli. Since you got it from him, he might have an idea about who could do the work properly, or he may offer to do it for you. That's a heartbreaker . . . good luck. Tom
I STILL haven't gotten it fixed. I ended up wearing my Wested Novapelle more since it got REALLY cold. I need to fix it, jacket season is rapidly approaching. Thanks for reminding me!
I had something similar happen to my Todd's when I put my 20+ pound laptop case/tool bag on over my shoulder and it caught one of the adjustment straps. The tear looked just like yours does.
I had little options for repairing it, so I took it to a local, everyday seamstress. She opened up the liner, added a piece of denim to the backside, internals of the jacket to reinforce the back/strap connection area, and restitched the leather.
It's still in-line with the other one and truthfully when I picked it up I couldn't tell what was done, only that it looked good as new. She had to explain all of her steps to me but I was totally impressed.
Exactly! She's great. Any time I've need alterations, to regular clothes or costumes, she's been very accommodating.
I once took her a Costume Base Han Solo vest and pants because they need a good bit of work. I asked for the vest's hem be shortened an inch or two; I asked her to just fold it up and tack it in place. With the pants, I asked for the baggy legs to be taken in and bloodstripes (bought from another vendor) to be sewn over the outside seams. When I picked them up she had done just as asked, but had also lined the vest with the satin-ish stuff you normally have in a vest just because she had some on hand and figured it needed it to look/hang properly.
I try and never go in with strict time demands, just a "hey, here's what I need and whenever you can get it done it's cool" attitude. I have to plan things out a bit more because of it, but it's worth the wait.
Tennessee Smith and I used to have someone in Murfreesboro who did the same high end work on our jackets, until she decided to stop working on leather coats as they were hard on her machine.