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How is a Motorcycle Jacket made?

Shrinking my motorcycle jacket?

  • I bought a garbage leather jacket from Leatherup.com, and I've come to hate it terribly. It's too big in every way possible, and the general quality of the jacket is just garbage. SO, I've decided to just annihilate the thing, and first things first, I'd like to shrink it down to a fit that's more appropriate. I'm not too pressed about how big it turns out, as long as it's smaller than it is now (it's a medium(36-39 or something)) and I wear somewhere around a 34 coat size, although I can squeeze into something around 30 too. Enough about that though. My question should really be: "How to shrink a Motorcycle Jacket", because I'm at a loss. Is it just a matter of soaking it in hot water and then throwing it into the dryer on high heat? Is there anything else I should do? Like, put it in with something so the hardware doesn't heat up? Thanks. I know it's an odd subject, but I'm hoping someone has experience shrinking down leather. I should emphasize that I really couldn't give two gaks about this jacket, and it's really just been sitting in my closet since last march. No jacket is better than a wrongly sized leather jacket ;) Thanks!

  • Answer:

    Don't wash it in a washing machine. Soak it in a large tub of hot water, replenishing the water as it cools for an hour. Pull it out and towel dry as dry as possible without wringing, as that will cause permanent wrinkles. Hang to dry on a clothes-hanger in a warm/dry area (in the sun if not too hot) and let dry. Never wear the jacket if rain is expected and use a raincoat over it in the fog.

Elan S at Yahoo! Answers Visit the source

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Buy one that fits you, sell the old one... You CAN'T SHRINK the Jacket.

FRANK

You could take out the stitching... Cut it down and then re stitch it back together

Mitch

Don't blame the jacket blame yourself for buying the wrong size

Maverick

Dude, you bought the wrong sixe. Not the jacket's fault. THat said, I would never buy cheap gear that you find on fleabay. I buy almost all my stuff from Motorcyclegear.com. Cheap, and it is all good, name brand stuff - just last year's model on closeout. BTW - you cant shrink a leather jacket. Get it wet and it will shrink some, but it will never feel like leather again.

Socrates I'M BACK AGAIN MOFOs

Wet leather can shrink a bit, then use neatsfoot or linseed oil on it or silicone boot dressing. This is procedure for breaking in leather hiking boots and fitting of leather holsters to pistols. In your case- soak jacket and wear it until it's dry, then lots of oil, boot dressing, saddle soaping. Not that this is NOT for great size reduction, is for a form fit of close to size to begin with and linings will be bunched. Old leather jackets used by other than original user get the saddle soap and oil treatment to help them soften and allow to reform slightly- your project is a extreme edge but since you've already written off cost of proper tailored or altered jacket, not much to lose by wet and wear until dry, then oil.

curmudgeon55

read this & thought LMFAO... no idea. shrink fit... there is no control on how far it shrinks.& which bits shrink which way.. leather is grained & it shrinks one way more than the other.... so you could end up with a size25 jacket with skinny arms that are too long... one more thought on this question.. ""No jacket is better than a wrongly sized leather jacket "" wonder if you will still think this after sliding down the road for a few yards??????

mn

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