Shrinking a leather jacket?

[John Lever]

Leaving a jacket out in theccsummer sun will shrink it also.

 

[Roughwear]

Yes goatskin does shrink, but the problem will be shrinking the body and not the sleeves. So tumbling it is unlikely to work.

 

[MikeyB-17]

Eat lots of pies. It’ ll soon get smaller.

 

[Smithy]

If a jacket doesn't fit then it doesn't fit. Yes there's things you can try, wetting and then stretching if too large, washing in hot water if too big.

But all of these things are more than likely to completely bugger a jacket up, either the lining, stitching, the drape of the leather, or the proportions of the leather pieces in relation to other pieces on the jacket.

If a jacket doesn't fit, is too big or too small, sell it and find something else.

 

[Skip]

I agree with Tim. I've hot watered my AN-J-3 which was brand new, but only to fast track the wear, which worked. I wore it in the bloody hot Oz sun till it dried. It formed to my shape, shrunk a wee bit, but as you wear it, it stretches back to its original shape. It will also wear the knits (stretch) and lining by stretching and pulling at the stitches as it dries differently to the leather

Never do this with vintage jackets unless you want them to fall apart all the quicker

 

[Zmit]

Thank you very much for your opinions and advice.

 

[A2 B3au]

K

I would strongly advise against trying to shrinking any jacket with a cotton zipper tape.
The tape always shrinks unless cold water is used ( but cold water doesn't really shrink leather) and the inevitable result is a very crinkled zipper. Even when there is some synthetic in the tape, any shrinkage in the
leather will result in the zipper looking kinked

Same think happens when zippers are dyed prior to fitting, the tape shrinks and the teeth buckle resultimg in a very unatractive looking zipper that will snag, be dificult to use and fail far quicker than a smooth running zipper

View attachment 3309

It's clear that the tape has been pulled as tight as possible to compensate for the shrinkage (above) but no amount of trying to stretch the tape will fix the zipper and that's very much the look you can expect
if your fitted zipper and/or the front edge of your jacket shrinks.....................remember, the teeth won't shrink!!!

Ken is it possible to turn a 42 in to a 40 I've obtained a painted jacket from Josh and it's bothering me something terrible ...nice one Art

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

K

Ken is it possible to turn a 42 in to a 40 I've obtained a painted jacket from Josh and it's bothering me something terrible ...nice one Art

Soaking to age or shrink is a real hit or miss job, I wouldn't advise anyone to try just incase, sometimes it works, sometimes not, occasionally it's a disaster
Another thing to consider..........Some maker's knits react really badly to being soaked

 

[Silver Surfer]

agreed, all. as ken mentioned, the zipper run will get wavy, though it will still work. often the prob with shrinking an a-2 , even when done carefully, is the because of the shoulder epaulets, the shoulder to shoulder measurement will in all likelyhood remain the the same as before shrinking....if the shoulders do shrink, the epaulets will have a tendency to kinda bulge up in the center of each epaulet....this can sometimes be seen on original a-2s that have shrunk over time. only one way to find out, hahahaha. fortune favors the brave.

 

[A2 B3au]

Soaking to age or shrink is a real hit or miss job, I wouldn't advise anyone to try just incase, sometimes it works, sometimes not, occasionally it's a disaster
Another thing to consider..........Some maker's knits react really badly to being soaked

Agreed and thanks but I meant actually is it doable to open it up and and trim it to a 40 and then put back together ?? Nice one Art

 

[dmar836]

That would be the same material cost but even more labor than just making a new size 40.
Dave

 

[A2 B3au]

That would be the same material cost but even more labor than just making a new size 40.
Dave

I kinda figured it'd be costly as it's jacket surgery I require and it'll probably take me hearing a huge quote before I put the idea to bed. As its a jacket I'm keeping regardless as it's been painted for me and the measurements are only a tad bigger than my 40s and my 42 from JC even more slender I took the chance on the jacket...Aahhhhh it's to big I think everytime I put it on , compared to that's how it should fit when I have my other A2s on and no matter who much I tell my self at least I can wear layers with this one it can't change the fact I'm a 40 and wear a 40 comfortably..nice one Art

 

[dmar836]

Understood. I think we’ve all been there. Best of luck with it!
Dave

 

[Ken at Aero Leather]

Agreed and thanks but I meant actually is it doable to open it up and and trim it to a 40 and then put back together ?? Nice one Art

To reduce the size of any leather jacket properly the reduction would need to be approx 3 sizes, it's the old stitching and the armholes that cause the problems with going down one size. Even then I wouldn't want to confirm if could be done invisibly without handling the donor jacket and an A-2 is probably the least likely to be successfully sized down due to the armhole construction

 

[Silver Surfer]

good point, ken.

 

[jeremiah]

It is interesting to note what exactly occurs during the HWT process which gives some people results and others none. Then the disastrous results too.
For my ELC, what I did with the intention of seeing if it would fit me a little better was to jump in the shower wearing it with warm water. once I got it sopping wet I let it drip dry a tad and then put in a pillow case and threw it in the dryer at the lowest setting on tumble. pulled out every so often (minutes) to have a look.

Once it felt a good deal dryer, I wore it until if felt all the way dry.
What I noted in size reduction was as follows.
The ELC monarch was a tagged 40.
Going by the HPA size chart for this tagged size:
Chest 21.5"
sleeves 25"
back 25"
shoulders 17.5"

I know the jacket I received was very close to those measurements new.
after the HWT,
chest was (is) 20.5-20.75" for a 1"-.75" reduction.
sleeves 24.5"
back 23"
shoulders 17"

so back got the most reduction in size. However, after that initial one time only HWT, I have exposed it to a few soakings via rain and allowed to dry normally.
So some of that settling and shrinkage could be due to all of this combined. I know wrinkles will account for some appearance of shrinking, but I wonder if the process is tightening the leather hide where it was rolled and stretched a bit during the tanning process?

Anyway, I probably won't ever do the HWT again, but I was lucky to get some good results with mine.

 

[Skydancer]

Sharing my experience: I shrunk two smooth lambskin leather jackets, one dark brown and vintage, the other tan and almost new. Both one size too large. Dark brown: Soaked in lukewarm water, ( did not wash) then spin cycle in washing mach, then dried in dryer on low heat. Took a long time. It shrunk by about 1/2 size, not quite enough for best fit, color did not change, it looks a little more worn and the lining now shows but that's easy to fix. My tan jacket: Soaked in hotter water, then spun in wash mach, then into dryer on medium heat, tested the fit every 10 minutes. It came out perfect! Tan color stayed the same, lining still as before, no alterations needed. It fits perfectly. I plan to apply leather conditioner to both. I think I was too cautious with the dark brown one and could have used a higher drying heat for greater shrinkage. I am surprised, and pleased, by how resilient the leather was to water, heat, spin and dryer abuse. Would definitely do on another jacket, if needed.

 

[B-Man2]

Good to know .. How about some fit pictures of your work . That’s what we like seeing. Thanks

 

[ausreenactor]

Brave man. I would just buy again or bulk up.....

 

[Steve27752]

Sharing my experience: I shrunk two smooth lambskin leather jackets, one dark brown and vintage, the other tan and almost new. Both one size too large. Dark brown: Soaked in lukewarm water, ( did not wash) then spin cycle in washing mach, then dried in dryer on low heat. Took a long time. It shrunk by about 1/2 size, not quite enough for best fit, color did not change, it looks a little more worn and the lining now shows but that's easy to fix. My tan jacket: Soaked in hotter water, then spun in wash mach, then into dryer on medium heat, tested the fit every 10 minutes. It came out perfect! Tan color stayed the same, lining still as before, no alterations needed. It fits perfectly. I plan to apply leather conditioner to both. I think I was too cautious with the dark brown one and could have used a higher drying heat for greater shrinkage. I am surprised, and pleased, by how resilient the leather was to water, heat, spin and dryer abuse. Would definitely do on another jacket, if needed.

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