I have a late 40s/early 50s Swedish goatskin jacket (L. Bo Persson, Skinnvango, of Malung, Akta Getskinn) which, unfortunately, I can't post pics of at the moment due to an offspring + concrete floor vs camera incident. The jacket is in that fairly sparse Continental 40s style, somewhat like the generic 'Luftwaffe' jacket. You'll have to take my word, for the time being, that the leather is very, very nice, but unfortunately the one issue I have is with the padded shoulders. Not extremely padded (because we're talking 40s, not 80s) but roughly what you'd find on a contemporary suit jacket. Horsehair, probably. I already have pretty substantial shoulders so the combined effect is a bit too linebacker for my taste. I don't want to do too much cutting, so can anyone suggest a way that I can defuse the shoulder padding without surgery? And if anybody else has done this to a similar garment, did it work or did the shoulders just look deflated?
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Non-invasive shoulder pad modification?
- Thread starter pipvh
- Start date
I tried to cut the pads from a 1980s jacket, it was the traditional box cut jacket just like the 1950s but the pads were 'laminated' if that is the correct description into the sleeve/shoulder. The jacket did not lose much shape but there was no way to completely remove the pads other than to separate the sleeve from the body of the jacket at the shoulder for 2/3rd circumference of the arm hole.
The result was not that bad but did have a slight 'dip' where there should have been padding.
J
The result was not that bad but did have a slight 'dip' where there should have been padding.
J
Panacheman
Familiar Face
- Messages
- 75
- Location
- London UK/Montana US
i pulled the shoulder pads from a late 70s early 80s deerskin shirt jacket recently. was an easy job for two reasons padding was foam bonded to fabric and just cut the pad along the seam that connected the shoulder to the arm and pulled the two respective pieces off also helped that the lining was not bound to the jacket waist hem. best suggestion is get a look at what you have up there by opening a small space in a seem in the lining close to where the shoulder pad might be for a laproscopic inspection if you will. If your a skilled enough surgeon/seamster or know one 
you can stitch the lining closed without anyone being the wiser. if your lucky it will be like mine if not you might have to disassemble and reassemble minus the offending pad, but at least the stitch holes will already be there.
you can stitch the lining closed without anyone being the wiser. if your lucky it will be like mine if not you might have to disassemble and reassemble minus the offending pad, but at least the stitch holes will already be there.The laproscopic approach did occur to me but at the moment I think I can live with the shoulders. They aren't as exaggerated as I thought and any mods can wait for the reline which will happen at some point (to the sleeves at least: the body has a really amazing wool tartan that I've never seen before and which must be preserved at all costs!). Too obsessive on my part, I think! Now to get back to trawling ebay and gazing at Rakuten...
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Panacheman
Familiar Face
- Messages
- 75
- Location
- London UK/Montana US
I see nothing worth the effort of modification but if it nags at you its best that you do it or the jacket will rarely leave the closet and your right that is an interesting tartan
armscye
One of the Regulars
- Messages
- 143
- Location
- New England
How my tailor does it
I have oversized square shoulders that often require removing the shoulder pads from suits. My alterations tailor does it in minutes, as part of the initial fitting. He turns the suit inside out, uses a seam ripper to open the upper sleeve lining along the lining seam, reaches his hand through the gap, pulls the shoulder inside out, and snips the few basting threads that hold the shoulder padding in. Then he reaches across to the other side of the suit and repeats the process. Once you're inside the lining, you can reach-- and in fact extract-- all of the "guts" of the suit.
I have oversized square shoulders that often require removing the shoulder pads from suits. My alterations tailor does it in minutes, as part of the initial fitting. He turns the suit inside out, uses a seam ripper to open the upper sleeve lining along the lining seam, reaches his hand through the gap, pulls the shoulder inside out, and snips the few basting threads that hold the shoulder padding in. Then he reaches across to the other side of the suit and repeats the process. Once you're inside the lining, you can reach-- and in fact extract-- all of the "guts" of the suit.
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