Club Obi Wan

So I'm thinking the time has come to throw my 3 month old Wested Authentic Lamb in the wash. I've read over numerous posts about this but I'm still not so sure about whether or not I should use hot or cold water, and if I should hang dry it or throw it in the dryer?

I just want to take the new shine off a bit and get the distressing going. I do NOT want it to shrink much. I've seen some recent posts of sleeves that shrank to being far too short in my opinion.

What's the best thing to do with a new Wested Lamb??? Holt?? Anybody?? Help meeeeeee

warm water.not boling hot.in the shower.soak it.air dry it.wear it.finished.shine off. ;-)

Thanks Holt! When you say soak it, do you mean fill the tub up and throw it in there or just blast it with the shower and let it hang dry?

Indiana Holt wrote:warm water.not boling hot.in the shower.soak it.air dry it.wear it.finished.shine off. ;-)

Holt, you had any sleeve shrinking?

Indiana Strones wrote:

Indiana Holt wrote:warm water.not boling hot.in the shower.soak it.air dry it.wear it.finished.shine off. ;-)

Holt, you had any sleeve shrinking?

Yeah I wonder the same thing, I've seen some recent posts of folks who threw theirs in the dryer and lost a solid TWO INCHES on the sleeves! with my long lanky arms that just won't fly....

Re-read Holt's post. He said air dry. Not dry in the dryer.

Regards! Michaelson

Wear your jacket, zipped up and try to keep the liner dry) in the shower in warm or hot water. Give it a good soak - this will take a few minutes. Towel off the excess water. Now wear the jacket as long as you can while it dries. While wearing pull and shape the jacket to your liking. Depending on the leather, how long it soaked, and the conditions you wear it in, it will take anywhere from a few hours to a couple days to completely dry. When not wearing hang it from a sturdy hangar or throw it on the floor.

If you put it in a heated drier you very much run the risk of shrinking it! Try the above method first as it's the safest.

Raider S wrote:Wear your jacket, zipped up and try to keep the liner dry) in the shower in warm or hot water. Give it a good soak - this will take a few minutes. Towel off the excess water. Now wear the jacket as long as you can while it dries. While wearing pull and shape the jacket to your liking. Depending on the leather, how long it soaked, and the conditions you wear it in, it will take anywhere from a few hours to a couple days to completely dry. When not wearing hang it from a sturdy hangar or throw it on the floor.

If you put it in a heated drier you very much run the risk of shrinking it! Try the above method first as it's the safest.

Thanks so much for the tip! I will definitely do that and post some pics. My poor fiance is already confused enough as to why I have two seemingly (to her) identical jackets and will be even more put off when I sit around in it wet in our apt.

The next task is to convince her why I need a TN......

I air dry mine using the clothes dryer. Tumble dry with no heat if your dryer has that feature. Some use pillowcases, but I just throw mine in there with some wet towels. The weight of the towels bouncing around can do beautiful things.

Oh, for the final dry, I usually either wear the jacket if the weather permits, or let it dry on a towel on the floor zipped up. That method has even gotten rid of the 'demon curl' that I had on one of my jackets. It allowed the leather to reset itself to some degree.

If you do use a washing machine or a dryer please put your jacket inside of either a large pillow case with the end closed up, or even better a cotton laundry bag with a drawstring to close it. It's very easy to damage your jacket or rip it if you don't protect it a little. Might not happen every time, but why risk it?

I put a jacket in a no heat dryer for a number of hours and it will soften the leather but compared to wearing it in the shower, it wasn't worth all the electricity and wear on the dryer.

Oh, when you get the jacket to where you like it and when dry, give it a coat of Pecards so it's nice and waterproof. But you may want to do the shower trick several times.

Thank you for all of your input gents! Much appreciated. I think I am going to start with the shower trick a few times and see where I get with that. Unfortunately I live in Boston in an apt building and don't have a no-heat option on the building's dryer. We'll see what happens!

Well, what ever you do, go slow. Remember, once done, many times results can't be reversed, so if you think there's a better time and situation to try this, I'd recommend you wait until you're sure.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson wrote:Well, what ever you do, go slow. Remember, once done, many times results can't be reversed, so if you think there's a better time and situation to try this, I'd recommend you wait until you're sure.

Regards! Michaelson

Michaelson, I'm starting to think people should listen to you more often..... Kind of like when you reacted to all of the uproar against the TN Raiders by saying something like "just wait a couple of weeks and people will be singing a different tune." When you look at the jacket forum now do you sort of feel like saying "told you so..."?



Luckily I will be using my less SA Wested for the water treatment. I'm saving my "better" one for natural distressing. Now all I need is one of those dino hide jackets that are so not SA....

indyrocks wrote:When you look at the jacket forum now do you sort of feel like saying "told you so..."?

No, not really. It's happened so often, and for so many years, I just kind of sit back and watch things as they roll along. ;-)

Regards! Michaelson

NO HOT WATER

My first Wested Lamb shrunk a full size when I used hot water. My second one I used cold water. To dry them, I wadded both up into a ball and threw them into a corner until they were dry.



These are both sized 44R. The top is OTR, the bottom is ROTLA Special. The ROTLA was slightly longer in the body to begin with, however, the sleeves were almost identical in length before the water treatment. The shrinkage caused by hot water is very obvious.

If you wear the wet jacket and pull at it, it shouldn't shrink. Again, I say warm water and you should be fine.

I had great success with washing my Wested lamb. I simply filled the kitchen sink with warm water (not too hot, not too cold) and completely immersed it for a few minutes, balling it up under the water to release any extraneous color/dye/chemicals. Afterwards, I gave it a thorough "wringing out" and layed it out flat to air dry. No dryer!! It'll take longer to dry (i.e. - 4-6 days), but the results are worth it. In the meantime, you can put it on, bunch the sleeves up, reshape the pocket flaps, ball up the jacket to get some great wrinkles, etc.

My advice is the same as Michaelson's - go slow. What you do can't often be undone. If you use the dryer method, check it every few minutes to ensure the results are as desired.

Kind regards,
Craig

Ya- I put mine in medium-hot water and it turned out AWESOME

NIBS

Indiana Blooze wrote:NO HOT WATER

My first Wested Lamb shrunk a full size when I used hot water. My second one I used cold water. To dry them, I wadded both up into a ball and threw them into a corner until they were dry.



These are both sized 44R. The top is OTR, the bottom is ROTLA Special. The ROTLA was slightly longer in the body to begin with, however, the sleeves were almost identical in length before the water treatment. The shrinkage caused by hot water is very obvious.

and this is why I did not do the HOT water thing..as I said in my first post.warm water..not boiling hot ;-)

indyrocks wrote:Unfortunately I live in Boston in an apt building and don't have a no-heat option on the building's dryer. We'll see what happens!

I haven't been into Boston since they started The Big Dig. They used to have laundromats though.

indyrocks, you stated that you do not want it to shrink much. Does this indicate that you do want it to shrink a little, or that you are accepting the fact that shrinkage will probably occur and you want to keep it to a minimum? If you want some unsolicited advice on shrinking a jacket, read below. If not, stop here...

Shrinkage is caused be a lot of different factors. What worked perfectly for one person may be a disaster for the next. The fact that I am on Wested No. 8 may indicate that I have some experience in shrinking leather. The first 2-3 times were unintentional. After that it was playtime.

I have had the best luck with warm water and a gentle laundry detergent. The detergent allows the warm water to penetrate faster as it breaks the surface tension of the leather. (Heavier leather jackets like a Vanson cowhide, I actually used a triple dose of fabric softener.)

If you are trying to shrink the jacket, still use warm water, not hot. You can control the shrinkage WAY better in the dryer. Medium heat and for short bursts - a couple of minutes at a time at most. You really want to watch the jacket carefully to see if it is shrinking uniformly. For instance you may wind up with one sleeve slightly shorter , or the body may get shorter, but not narrower as you may have hoped. Or the other way around. Or the leather may shrink more than the lining which will be sticking out everywhere. I have had all these things happen to some degree. (Thank God for the thrift store leathers!)

When you use the dryer, slow and in short bursts will be way better. Once the jacket is about where you want it, tumble it on 'no heat' setting until it is just damp. Then wear it until it dries...

Rick, quick question, have you ever tried using shampoo and conditioner on leather?

(Ok, after the laughing has died down)

It's been mentioned elsewhere I just wondered if you'd ever heard of anyone using that? It's supposed to have softening effects on the leather.

BTW is there some probs with FJ?

rick5150 wrote:

indyrocks wrote:Unfortunately I live in Boston in an apt building and don't have a no-heat option on the building's dryer. We'll see what happens!

I haven't been into Boston since they started The Big Dig. They used to have laundromats though.

indyrocks, you stated that you do not want it to shrink much. Does this indicate that you do want it to shrink a little, or that you are accepting the fact that shrinkage will probably occur and you want to keep it to a minimum? If you want some unsolicited advice on shrinking a jacket, read below. If not, stop here...

Shrinkage is caused be a lot of different factors. What worked perfectly for one person may be a disaster for the next. The fact that I am on Wested No. 8 may indicate that I have some experience in shrinking leather. The first 2-3 times were unintentional. After that it was playtime.

I have had the best luck with warm water and a gentle laundry detergent. The detergent allows the warm water to penetrate faster as it breaks the surface tension of the leather. (Heavier leather jackets like a Vanson cowhide, I actually used a triple dose of fabric softener.)

If you are trying to shrink the jacket, still use warm water, not hot. You can control the shrinkage WAY better in the dryer. Medium heat and for short bursts - a couple of minutes at a time at most. You really want to watch the jacket carefully to see if it is shrinking uniformly. For instance you may wind up with one sleeve slightly shorter , or the body may get shorter, but not narrower as you may have hoped. Or the other way around. Or the leather may shrink more than the lining which will be sticking out everywhere. I have had all these things happen to some degree. (Thank God for the thrift store leathers!)

When you use the dryer, slow and in short bursts will be way better. Once the jacket is about where you want it, tumble it on 'no heat' setting until it is just damp. Then wear it until it dries...

Much appreciated Rick. I am in fact trying to keep shrinkage to a minimal, although I wouldn't mind if the body shrank. Just not the sleeves. It looks good though, I wore it in the shower and then around the apt for a bit and now it's crumpled up on a towel drying. It's definitely been a dulled a bit which was my intent, and has some great wrinkles too.

Kt Templar wrote:Rick, quick question, have you ever tried using shampoo and conditioner on leather?

(Ok, after the laughing has died down)

It's been mentioned elsewhere I just wondered if you'd ever heard of anyone using that? It's supposed to have softening effects on the leather.

BTW is there some probs with FJ?

No laughing matter! I have not personally used that, but have heard of it. Maybe I will try it on the next jacket. I have used a myriad of personal care products just to see what happens. Remember using shaving cream on a baseball glove when you were younger? I used that on a jacket. Just like shaving cream (with lanolin), Nutrogena hand lotion, Maguiars Foaming Leather Cleaner (We cannot all get LeTaps ), WD-40 and so many other goofy things, I cannot tell you. Many because folks swore by them.

FJ is getting too big for it's britches. The host is adding space on the server as it is currently 95% full. It will be back within the hour, I hope.

indyrocks wrote:I am in fact trying to keep shrinkage to a minimal, although I wouldn't mind if the body shrank. Just not the sleeves.

How brave are you? You can try only wetting the body and giving it a little heat. Without seeing it, I would recommend that you hold off and try this first: Put some vertical wrinkles in the body of the jacket and it will give it a slimmer look. Note the left side of Ford's jacket:



You can wet the jacket and bunch it up by hand or you can wrap a couple of belts around the body and cinch them up until it dries. Not so tight that the belt makes marks though.

I've definitely noticed the positive effects of bunching it up. I crumpled it into a ball and left it that way overnight. Now it's splayed out on the floor. It's looking cool though. I won't be doing anything else though because I've got it up for sale now.

i wore my goat wested into the shower, the wife gave me a wierd look, after that, i gave it a good spraying with the shower head with hot water, wore it for about an hour , bending my arms, the pockets and shaping the collar, then i put it out to dry, i was stunned with the difference its made, the collar is a great shape now, and the jacket fits much better, also the shine has gone.
even the wife commented on how different it now looks.
I'll try a bit more next week.

I've been looking for this information before I tried it on my own. Armed with other peoples knowledge, I'll be soaking my jacket this Saturday.

Kt Templar wrote:Rick, quick question, have you ever tried using shampoo and conditioner on leather?

(Ok, after the laughing has died down)

It's been mentioned elsewhere I just wondered if you'd ever heard of anyone using that? It's supposed to have softening effects on the leather.

BTW is there some probs with FJ?

Saddle Soap?

Soap with Lanolin?

I would think a detergent type soap/shampoo would dry the leather.