So having mentioned this in the current thread on AL, I am finally spurred on to putting this together (don't tell the boss - should be working!) before someone says "Pics - or it didn't happen!". Oh, did it ever!
So it was the first week of winter last - and I reached for my trusty and beloved ELC RW B3 as usual. It was early, and I hadn't fully woken up - I just needed to let the dog out quickly. So I pulled it on - as I had countless times since 2006 when I bought it.
I pulled it on - and the right collar seemed to curl inwards in on itself (as they're floppy, as we all know) and I wasn't at all rough or forceful - but I heard this dull "R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-ip". !!!!!! Uh-oh....!!! :eeek:
I immediately eased the jacket off - and I could NOT believe my frickin' eyes! I was horrified. And gutted.
It was the very first day of Winter and my jacket was officially out of order. It was like a bad dream!
So I pinged Gary and sent him photos. I told him that, instead of sewing and patching the jacket, what I wanted was to have the straps and buckles removed and two panels of horsehide sewn to the back of the collar - to both repair and reinforce it - and thus prevent this from happening again to the other side - and to maintain the character of the jacket.
Gary said that it could be done, but he'd recommend replacing the entire collar - and admittedly, this would mean that the B3 would sport different tones of fleece but it would bed in "over time" ( i.e. years!). That option didn't appeal to me. Nor did the quote.
So being out here, and money being a bit tight, I decided to look at getting the repair done locally. It just made sense to me to do that. I asked Gary for two pieces of HH and some OD thread as per spec. to my jacket - and he duly obliged and kindly sent them immediately - and the pieces that arrived were cut to shape perfectly for my collar.
So the hunt began ...
I went online and finally found a local company that did leather repairs and also made coats. Their reviews were good and I sent them an email with photos and explained the problem and they said they'd be able to do it ... Great!
But then I crossed the city and showed them the jacket - and they seemed to balk a bit. They said "Erm, well, we can have a go at it, sure, but ideally, it'd be better if it was done by someone who made the jacket ..."
Not the top answer I was looking for. I love my jacket faaar too much to entrust anything like this to chance ... Buggeration. Back to Square 1.
And lo! Out of the blue (good name for an LP, that), my pal from Northampton pings me and says that he's coming to town on business for a week and, sorry for the short notice, but can we get together for drinks the next week ?!?!
I asked him if he'd have any room in his baggage allowance for a B3, and he said yes!!! Suddenly, things are definitely looking up !
So having recently just had my ANJ-3 made by Amanda, Will and Edith at Aero (as they were then) - and having been thrilled with the jacket and the customer service - plus a C3 that Kelly had made and I was thrilled with that too (she's also altered my ELC C3 too - she'd taken it in as they do tend to run a bit large. And you'd NEVER know she'd done it. A1 job) - I felt 100% confident that, if anyone could do this repair the way I wanted it to be done - it was Kelly.
And Amanda was a delight to deal with as ever as we set this up.
So off my jacket went with my pal via British Airways and he sent it up to Alexander Leathers ...
I also asked Amanda if they could add a new English-made vintage 8th AF patch (I'd found a nicer one. Like you do! Originally the jacket had ELC-made bullion 8th AF and AAF patches and rank but I had them all removed and added vintage English-made patches instead and leather borders were added to cover the stich-holes from the previous ELC patches - which I really like the look of ! It was Will's idea to sew the epaulettes too to cover the stitch holes there. I love the look of them. Again, a perfect job!
And it came back looking like this:
[/ATTACH]
And as you can see, Kelly took off every strap and replaced it again - with the new thread going in through the existing holes. The only tell-tale sign is the OD thread is very green compared to the now aged thread of the rest of the jacket which is now more the colour of straw.
But it looks like it was a repair made by the original Rough Wear factory on one of their jackets - which is all I ever wanted and hoped for. And the jacket came back in time to catch the tail-end of Winter ....
Fantastic. I couldn't be happier.
So it was the first week of winter last - and I reached for my trusty and beloved ELC RW B3 as usual. It was early, and I hadn't fully woken up - I just needed to let the dog out quickly. So I pulled it on - as I had countless times since 2006 when I bought it.
I pulled it on - and the right collar seemed to curl inwards in on itself (as they're floppy, as we all know) and I wasn't at all rough or forceful - but I heard this dull "R-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-ip". !!!!!! Uh-oh....!!! :eeek:
I immediately eased the jacket off - and I could NOT believe my frickin' eyes! I was horrified. And gutted.
It was the very first day of Winter and my jacket was officially out of order. It was like a bad dream!
So I pinged Gary and sent him photos. I told him that, instead of sewing and patching the jacket, what I wanted was to have the straps and buckles removed and two panels of horsehide sewn to the back of the collar - to both repair and reinforce it - and thus prevent this from happening again to the other side - and to maintain the character of the jacket.
Gary said that it could be done, but he'd recommend replacing the entire collar - and admittedly, this would mean that the B3 would sport different tones of fleece but it would bed in "over time" ( i.e. years!). That option didn't appeal to me. Nor did the quote.
So being out here, and money being a bit tight, I decided to look at getting the repair done locally. It just made sense to me to do that. I asked Gary for two pieces of HH and some OD thread as per spec. to my jacket - and he duly obliged and kindly sent them immediately - and the pieces that arrived were cut to shape perfectly for my collar.
So the hunt began ...
I went online and finally found a local company that did leather repairs and also made coats. Their reviews were good and I sent them an email with photos and explained the problem and they said they'd be able to do it ... Great!
But then I crossed the city and showed them the jacket - and they seemed to balk a bit. They said "Erm, well, we can have a go at it, sure, but ideally, it'd be better if it was done by someone who made the jacket ..."
Not the top answer I was looking for. I love my jacket faaar too much to entrust anything like this to chance ... Buggeration. Back to Square 1.
And lo! Out of the blue (good name for an LP, that), my pal from Northampton pings me and says that he's coming to town on business for a week and, sorry for the short notice, but can we get together for drinks the next week ?!?!
I asked him if he'd have any room in his baggage allowance for a B3, and he said yes!!! Suddenly, things are definitely looking up !So having recently just had my ANJ-3 made by Amanda, Will and Edith at Aero (as they were then) - and having been thrilled with the jacket and the customer service - plus a C3 that Kelly had made and I was thrilled with that too (she's also altered my ELC C3 too - she'd taken it in as they do tend to run a bit large. And you'd NEVER know she'd done it. A1 job) - I felt 100% confident that, if anyone could do this repair the way I wanted it to be done - it was Kelly.
And Amanda was a delight to deal with as ever as we set this up.
So off my jacket went with my pal via British Airways and he sent it up to Alexander Leathers ...
I also asked Amanda if they could add a new English-made vintage 8th AF patch (I'd found a nicer one. Like you do! Originally the jacket had ELC-made bullion 8th AF and AAF patches and rank but I had them all removed and added vintage English-made patches instead and leather borders were added to cover the stich-holes from the previous ELC patches - which I really like the look of ! It was Will's idea to sew the epaulettes too to cover the stitch holes there. I love the look of them. Again, a perfect job!
And it came back looking like this:
[/ATTACH]
And as you can see, Kelly took off every strap and replaced it again - with the new thread going in through the existing holes. The only tell-tale sign is the OD thread is very green compared to the now aged thread of the rest of the jacket which is now more the colour of straw.
But it looks like it was a repair made by the original Rough Wear factory on one of their jackets - which is all I ever wanted and hoped for. And the jacket came back in time to catch the tail-end of Winter ....
Fantastic. I couldn't be happier.
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