New Big Clothing Project!

[Greg]

Finances aren't working out too well for me, and with a wedding followed by married life looming in the distance, I had to cancel my order to Ravenswood leather for one of their jerkins. Thankfully they weren't very far into the project and were able to fully reimburse me *thank god*. It saddened me, as I've ALWAYS wanted one of those, and it was gonna be all custom tricked-out for me, completely different from their stock models, but then I remembered something I read Kate Madison write awhile back on the Yahoo ranger group about buying leather jackets like crazy on ebay and ripping out the lining. Someday maybe I'll have one of their jerkins, but for the time being, this new project may be exactly what I'm looking for for my main, weatherproof top layer.

So I went to my local Goodwill Thrift Store in search of leather jackets, just to see what I could find. Lo and behold, I found a long-sleeved VERY nice leather jacket with the lining already pretty torn up (making it easy to see the underside of the leather, which was nice) in the absolute UGLIEST rusty orange brown color ever conceived on the face of this earth. The jacket has big square pockets on the front, but they're backed with leather, so I can actually remove them completely without any significant evidence of their having been there. The sleeves I'm going to remove and either use for something else, or add eyelets so they can be removable lace-on sleeves. The rest of the jacket, after it's stripped of all lining, pockets, and sleeves, is getting bleached and dyed in a simlar two-tone pattern to what the jerkin was originally going to be. I'll be adding eyelets for lacing on the front and both the sides to make it more adjustable, though it, oddly enough, is already my size! The jacket goes down to mid-thigh instead of just the waist, which is all the jerkin did, so this jacket is actually going to be warmer than the jerkin would've been.

I got this jacket for $12.99. The jerkin was $209. Throw in six bucks for dye, three bucks for thread, ten bucks for lacing and eyelets, and you've got yourself a ~$32 super special awesome homemade jerkin.

If anyone is interested in a similar project, feel free to follow along. I'm gonna post photos of this project from start to finish, all steps included. Lori has my camera in LA right now while dress shopping, so I'm not gonna touch the jacket until she gets back on Saturday so I can take a before photo.

So run on over to your local thrift store, grab a cheap leather jacket, and let's make ranger gear together!

[Willrett]

Sounds great I was thinking kinda the same thing only I mainly wanted the sleeves for a quiver. I am in major buying mode getting stuff for a hiking trip in a few months but also getting the stuff that works for ranger gear also.

[Greg]

I've decided I hate the sleeves on my jacket with a burning passion. You want me to send them to you so you can make a quiver out of them? For that matter, let's make things more expedient...you want me to make you a quiver out of them?

[Mirimaran]

That is EXACTLY how I did my jacket, Greg! All I did was gut the thing, and then lace the sleeves and sides back together. An incredibly easy project and the expense is very low, considering everything you are buying will be able to be used on other projects as well. I found my jacket at Goodwill for $35.00, imagine my surprise when I priced a new one online for 10 times that! Almost felt bad for ripping it up, almost lemme look for a pic!

Edit:



I have since changed the buttons out, I will look for more pics later!

[Greg]

Looking good, Ken!

I'm ripping off the buttons and putting eyelets all the way up the front so it laces together, and then when I do the same on the sides, I'll use that time to take it in a bit to make it fut my waist a bit more snugly (with all my layers on underneath, of course!) Your jacket looks great, though! Did you have to re-dye it, or is that the color it came in?

Let me see if I can find a pic of a jacket that's the color mine is right now...the closest place I can think of where my jacket would actually blend into the environment would be egypt.

Ahh, here we go. Obviously, mine's not a women's jacket, but it's this exact hideous color:


Yeeeah...I've got work to do.

[Mirimaran]

Luckily no I did not have to re-dye it, it is a great shade of brown and has natural distressing I will have to take some pics of that. Good luck on the dyeing!

[Eledhwen]

Let that rusty color do some outdoor aging and weathering and it'll be just fine. Especially in the Autumn, but over time it'll dull right into place. Especially if you oil it regularly.

Siani

[Greg]

Will it darken if left in the sun, like some other leather items I've got that've gone from reddish to brownish with use?

[Eledhwen]

They usually do, so I don't see why not.

Siani

[mcapanelli]

You know this looks like a nice and easy first clothing project for me. I'll head on down to the goodwill tomorrow and follow this thread closely. In fact I'll do this along with you.

[Willrett]

Greg that would be great and it would save me a little time unless you use for them. If you want or planned on using them I will just buy one.

[Greg]

Mike, glad to hear you're on board! That way, if this ends up somehow not working, and I do something incredibly stupid to ruin mine, we can wear hideous jackets TOGETHER!

Willrett, I'll see what I can put together.

[Greg]

Alright, while I'm waiting for the camera to return, for those who are planning on doing this with me, I'm gonna write out a materials list so you can begin acquiring stuff now and (hopefully) work with me on it in "real time", more or less.

1) Thrift Store Leather Jacket
Depends on personal preference. Find something you think you'll like the end result of. Some people like longer jackets; some are going to want waist length. Mine comes down to mid-thigh, and splits in the back, which is something you really are going to want in a longer jacket. If it doesn't split, your movement may or may not be hindered, and it'll be REALLY hard to ride a horse if you're ever given the opportunity to do so in your jacket.

2) Fingernail polish remover (not necessary)
As suggested over a year ago by our own David Lewis Smith, when describing his project of re-dyeing his Glemdring replica white as a means for stripping the original dye color. Depending on what color you're going to dye your jacket, you may not need to do this. I'm dyeing mine two different colors; one of them is darker than the jacket's current color, so that part of the jacket won't need to have the dye removed. The other part will be a fair bit lighter, so I'm going to need to separate that part of the jacket from the darker portion and strip off the dye.

3) Leather Dyes (not necessary)
Not a requirement, but if your jacket is as ugly as mine is...

4) Waxed thread
LOTS of it. You can use waxed linen, waxed polyester, real or artificial sinew...whatever floats your boat. I want this to be cost-effective, so I picked up a big fat spool of dark brown waxed 100% polyester thread. You're gonna want a needle too. I've looked closely at the stitching on my jacket, and the pre-existing holes will work just fine for me re-attaching the panels to each other after dyeing, but a few of the areas that I'm changing the cut of are going to have new holes punched in them, so get a board and a nail or, best case scenario, an awl.

5) Eyelets and Leather Lace (not necessary)
This again depends on what you want to do with it. I'M making mine lace up on three sides, so I bought a crap-ton of antiqued nickel eyelets. Naturally, if you want something to lace up, you need lacing for that to work. A hole punch would certainly help in this department as well, though mine is lost to the ages, so I'm using a cordless drill for eyelet holes.

6) Rivets (not necessary)
Again, personal preference here. I'm using more antiqued nickel here, and am planning on circling my armholes with them spaced 1-1.5" apart for decorative purposes. The recent discussion about the Dunedain being rich in history and knowledge wants me to make another piece of kit that's decorative as well as functional. Everything I've made in the last 6 months or so has been strictly functional, so I wanna throw something in for looks. Granted, they're still antiqued, but it'll look nice, I think. AND, as an added bonus, I'm not gonna stitch around the armholes because I'm riveting them, so it'll save me LOTS of time. Yay!

7) Razor Blade
This is for two things; for cutting the pre-existing threads to take jacket panels apart, remove pockets and other non-period things, and for cutting actual leather should you wish to alter the actual design of your jacket. Get a sharp one, but be careful with it. I take no responsibility for yours or my own stupidity. ESPECIALLY not my own.

That should just about cover us for the time being. The fun starts tomorrow!

[Mirimaran]

Just a little note, my coat was a 2x, so I had to bring it in some to fit my (mostly) XL frame, so I folded over a half-inch on each side and used leather glue to make the seam. I didn't use any eyelets, but I think they are a good idea. I just punched holes in the doubled and glued leather. I used 2mm round lace for all my panels and sleeves. Michael's is a great place to find all your materials, as is Joann's, which sells lace by the yard.

[Greg]

I may have to go check them out...I just realized I bought enough lace at Tandy the other day to make my bracers, but I didn't yet have this jacket, so it's all sheer chance that I bought stuff I could use on the jacket too. Tandy's all the way up in Sacramento, so I don't wanna have to drive 45 minutes each way just to get more lace and leather dyes. Then again, I don't know where else to GET leather dye, so I may have to drive back up anyway, as re-dyeing it is step number 1 after stripping the dye off, which will be done in the manner of a few hours. I know I'm not gonna want to wait a week to continue working on this...but I may have to; payday's not until next friday. Dangit.

Anyone know of anything that can substitute for leather dye (or anywhere besides Tandy that sells it)? I'm tempted to take what Sinai said to a new level and rent a tanning bed for 30 minutes and stick the jacket in it to see how much I can darken it...