How do you repair an Irvin jacket???

[escorpion_72]

Hello,
I just discovered a small rip on my Irvin and wanted to know from the experts how to proceed with my fix. I was first thinking of stitches but then again it would be to visible.
The rip is close to the armpit (right side) but on the pieces connecting the body and the sleeve (sorry no pictures available at this moment).
I heard that some people use glue and I was wondering which method is the best.
If you get a really big rip/hole, would you cover it with leather and glue it or stitch it on?

If I want .....let say cover the stitches a bit.....would it be recommended to spray paint the spot of the stitches in similar color of the leather??

As you can see, I have allot of questions and thoughts and some might sound crazy but hey....I have never repaird such a jacket before.

Regards,

Escorpion_72

 

[John Lever]

My advice would be to send it to an expert with original materials to hand. Bad repairs are usually worse than the original damage. Both Eastman and Aero do restoration work to a very high standard.

 

[Andrew]

John's advice is the best if you can afford it. They will use good old sympathetic traditional methods which will help maintain the jacket's value and if possible they will make it invisible. You're probably well aware but crappy repairs will only reduce it's value and if not fixed properly it will be likely to reoccur.

Glue looks terrible
The wrong kind of stitching may tear.
Paint? :shock:
Patches on the inside often don't work...

Let them decide, they will probably do it as it would have been done as a field repair. One of my Irvins was repaired by aero and you seriously cannot see what it was they did.

 

[Anonymous]

Amen. Don't fix it yourself. Glue is imo sacriledge. Stitches rarely work. A leather patch, sewn on, can sometimes look OK. Depends upon location. I used to have an Irvin with a quality patch / pocket repair and it looked quite trendy. BTW from your description are you talking about one of the small articulation panels (appx. 4 inch by 12) under the armpit? If so, Aero, Eastman etc. can replace the whole thing with a scrap of old Irvin.

 

[John The Hat]

There are three ways I would suggest.

Firstly you can patch and overband. You can use a LITTLE glue to stabilize the damaged area under the patch so that there is no more deterioratiion and you don't for instance put your hand through the tear..

http://www.bysonleather.co.uk/Images/Irvin.jpg

Or you can replace a whole or part panel, either with new hide (quite expensive) or with recovered wartime hide (more expensive).

Unless you are, or have access to a skilled specialist machinist I would not say this was a DIY job.

 

[Roughwear]

I am always happy to repair and restore Irvins!