Leather jacket alterations

[Mr. John Smith]

Hello!

I recently purchased a brown goat skin leather trench coat from the ol' ebay. It was sold at Harrod's in London by a designer named Ian Mankin (any info on him would be interesting... hint-hint). So here is the dilemma.

The coat looks 1940-ish, but it has the sleeves of the 1960's. Where the fit is a dead-on size 46, the sleeves are incredibly narrow and I can't lift my arms while wearing it because of the cut. I'm a practical fellow at heart, so not being able to lift my arms for the sake of fashion is silly.

I found a place that does alterations in leather. I am assuming that the sleeves will need to have additional leather added to make them wider and that the arm holes will need to be re-cut.

Is this something that can be done easily? Or is this the equivalent of fashion murder?

 

[Seb Lucas]

Hello!

I recently purchased a brown goat skin leather trench coat from the ol' ebay. It was sold at Harrod's in London by a designer named Ian Mankin (any info on him would be interesting... hint-hint). So here is the dilemma.

The coat looks 1940-ish, but it has the sleeves of the 1960's. Where the fit is a dead-on size 46, the sleeves are incredibly narrow and I can't lift my arms while wearing it because of the cut. I'm a practical fellow at heart, so not being able to lift my arms for the sake of fashion is silly.

I found a place that does alterations in leather. I am assuming that the sleeves will need to have additional leather added to make them wider and that the arm holes will need to be re-cut.

Is this something that can be done easily? Or is this the equivalent of fashion murder?

It can be done but it will look pretty bad. If the sleeves are too narrow, the jacket doesn't fit properly and it's not really a fashion problem.

 

[Edward]

I'd be wary of attempting this sort of 'surgery'. You'll never successfully 'hide' the new panels of leather, so it might look odd, and there's a danger that the fit will never be quite right either. Could end up being an expensive mistake if it doesn't work and then is hard to sell on...