TT Leathers jacket resto

[Monitor]

Looks good, @barnabus. I know that the leather TT jackets are made of is extremely tough. These are true motorcycle jackets. Water can't harm it.

@technovox , I'm really curious now as well if the jacket will stay the way it is. I somehow doubt it. Doesn't make any sense that the sleeves somehow shrank with time on their own, but... We'll see. The whole jacket is considerably larger all around! I'd say it went from 40 to 44.

 

[Lit Up]

I've had one of these for years with a killer patina. Just like yours but with the black wearing away really nicely and each square of padding having its own worn story. However, I stopped wearing it because the leather was incredibly stiff and the lining gave me a rash(!). I don't know who owned it previously but it's horrible to get some kind of rash off a jacket. It's stayed in my loft since. Maybe I'll put it in the wash, then...

 

[Edward]

i think for me the eighties doesn't seem that long ago because I'm in denial that I'm a middle-aged old fart now...

Eighties sounds right for that particular style, though. The Seventies was when the Brit makers started adding padding to their jackets - the likes of the Lewis Racing and Phantom models appeared in the early seventies, then the later seventies you see increasing popularity of both the lancer front / mandarin collar style like the Monza / Super Monza, and the revival of full-collar versions like the Lewis Star Lightning - in part thanks to the popularity of the more traditional 40s/50s look via later punk rock (leather jackets were far, far less common among the early UK punks than people tend to think now, and the Perfecto type even moreso - of the most famous leather-wearers, the definitive Sid Vicious jacket, in reality, was a Lewis Dominator, for example). This sort of chunkier version started to appear in the early 80s, and was pretty standard until designs like the Terminator 3 jacket appeared into the 90s, though even with changing styles, the technology was the same until the sort of armour now commonplace appeared around the turn of the century (making its way into civilian use from the racing sector, as had the padded jackets).

 

[Monitor]

Well, here's the LL. Dry, clean and one full size larger. Most concrete proof of this is that before I washed this jacket, the lining was sagging out of the sleeves which is no longer the case. I don't have a clue what happened, how or why but I'm happy.

 

[barnabus]

It sounds as though the jacket had previously shrunk, and your washing it had allowed it back out to its original dimensions somehow. I can't understand how that might have happened though!

I've learnt from bitter experience that drying a leather jacket in the tumble dryer after a wash can shrink the hide, but leave man-made fabrics unscathed. This gives results like you described, with the leather shrinking around the zipper tape, making it go wavy. And with nylon linings suddenly too long for shrunken sleeves.

Magically, you seen to have reversed this by unshrinking your jacket.

However it's happened, the result looks ace! Does it fit you better or worse than before?

 

[Monitor]

It sounds as though the jacket had previously shrunk, and your washing it had allowed it back out to its original dimensions somehow. I can't understand how that might have happened though!

I've learnt from bitter experience that drying a leather jacket in the tumble dryer after a wash can shrink the hide, but leave man-made fabrics unscathed. This gives results like you described, with the leather shrinking around the zipper tape, making it go wavy. And with nylon linings suddenly too long for shrunken sleeves.

Magically, you seen to have reversed this by unshrinking your jacket.

However it's happened, the result looks ace! Does it fit you better or worse than before?

Oh yeah, drying leather in the tumble dryer is a huge nope. It'll shrink and dry up so bad it might start cracking. Even washing a jacket at a high temperature might leave it off the same, once it dries up. But yeah, I just don't understand what in the world could've happened to it that it came out of the washing machine a full size larger.

Leather is pretty much the same as it was before and all the dirt is gone from it. That jacket must've sat in some damp basement for decades before I bought it. It had spider nests in the folds... I did clean it thoroughly but couldn't ever get rid of the smell. Reeked under the arms, too and wearing it wasn't helping. Now it's perfectly clean and no smells emanate from it.

I think it fits better now. I always found the sleeves to be borderline short and couldn't really zip it up comfortably over anything more than a t. I like it more now, yeah... I think.

 

[Gamma68]

Hmmmm....makes me wonder if I should wash my borderline small Taubers CR. I'd love to gain an extra inch everywhere.

 

[Mich486]

That’s really an unexpected outcome @Monitor! My few experiences with washing leather jackets always turned out with a slightly smaller jacket than before the wash.

Anyhow, I too throw everything vintage/second hand I get straight in the washing machine. Mainly because I’m squeamish if somebody else has worn it but I think it also helps to make the garment feel more mine.


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[barnabus]

Oh, btw; anyone want to see the seller's main photo for the listing when I bought this TT jacket?

 

[Gamma68]

Oh, btw; anyone want to see the seller's main photo for the listing when I bought this TT jacket?

Sure, please.

 

[barnabus]

As you wish!

 

[barnabus]

Didn't I promise you some more pictures? Yes, yes I did.

No daylight unfortunately, but here's some detail of how things are right now:

 

[barnabus]

Okey dokey, here's some daylight:

 

[barnabus]

Right, repair time. With my el cheapo repair kit off eBay, I set about fixing the ragged edges of the scratch together first:

You probably think it doesn't look vastly different afterwards, but in person the edges are now fixed together in place and don't pull apart when you stretch the surrounding hide.

Then I put on my brave trousers and started on the actual hole...

 

[barnabus]

Inside the jacket I located the seam nearest to where the rip was, and used a seam ripper to open it up (I made a bit of a balls of this part).

Then I found the rip itself through the hole I'd made in the lining.

I put some sticky tape on the outside of the jacket and manoeuvred the edges of the hole together as closely as I could before holding them in place with the tape.

Next I cut a piece of my repair fabric to a size I thought was large enough to surround the hole, but not too big.

I spread leather glue over the inside of the rip, and the centre of the patch fabric before wiggling it in through the hole in the lining and smoothing out into place.

Turning the jacket back right-side-out I checked the hole through the tape to make sure the edges had stayed together how I wanted them, and then I went to the shop for an hour.

When I got home I carefully peeled the tape off, and rubbed off any excess glue from the surface with a fingertip.

I'm pretty pleased with the result!

I still need to re-sew the lining back together, and once my black leather dye arrives I'll be able to blend the exposed edges of ripped / torn hide in with their surroundings and hopefully invisible-ise the repair.

Certainly the edges are all stuck back together and the hole itself now isn't a hole any more.

Good!

 

[barnabus]

My dye has arrived! Together with some alcohol (not like that!) to thin it down.

I'll give it a whirl this weekend if I get time.

 

[barnabus]

It was in my mind to do this dying today, but unfortunately things got in the way. Spain made a terrible mess of losing to Russia; my wife found some of my old suede Chelsea boots (that I thought eBayed years ago) in the wardrobe and I've been prancing about in them all afternoon; and it turns out my in-laws arrive this afternoon, so best get tidying.

I've chalked this dying up on my plans board though, so don't fret.

It will happen, and I'll tell you all about it.

 

[handymike]

Well done!!!!

 

[TheGuitarFairy]

super enjoyable thread and both jackets look killer.
thanks!

 

[deaner33]

Super impressed with your repair skills. That jacket in Shinki Teacore Horsehide would be my holy grail.