Leather jackets can look strange if they don’t fit you properly, especially if they are too large or too small for you. So it’s a good idea to know what to do if it doesn’t fit, and that is get it tailored to fit you correctly.
Here are five ways leather jackets can be tailored:
Leather jackets can be tailored if your leather jacket is too small or too big, if the arms of the jacket are too short for you, if the jacket needs to be shorter in size, or the buttons are zips need to be amended.
If you want to know the details on how to tailor your jacket then all the information is below for you to read, so you will know exactly what to do.
Ways That Leather Jackets Can Be Tailored
If Your Leather Jacket Is Too Big
Leather jackets are most often designed to be fitted, so a leather jacket that is too big might look strange. Luckily, this can easily be tailored, usually by cutting and removing some strips of fabric in order to take the remaining fabric in.
When these bits of fabric have been taken in and then stitched back together at the seams, the jacket will fit much closer to the body, hugging it as it should.
The sides, the hem and the sleeves are three of the main areas on a jacket that are usually taken in to make it smaller. You’ll be able to tell if your jacket is too big if these areas are hanging off you and giving your jacket a baggy appearance.
A professional tailor will have the right needles required for stitching leather, so it shouldn’t be too much trouble to have them take the fabric of your jacket in so that the garment fits better.
If Your Leather Jacket Is Too Small
Altering a leather jacket to be bigger if it is too small for you is a trickier task because it entails the widening of seams as opposed to the removal of material.
The measurements need to be exact when some fabric is let out in the seams because otherwise you risk the jacket becoming misshapen. As little as half an inch of fabric being let out on both sides can add an additional inch to the overall width of your jacket.
In order to get your jacket tailored to widen it, you need to identify exactly where it is too small. Some people find that their jackets fit them perfectly on the body but then cut too tightly under their arms, other people struggle to move comfortably because the jacket fits too tightly around the waist and back.
Whatever the cause of your jacket being too small, having a tailor let out the seams a little should make it fit much better.
If You Need To Shorten Leather Sleeves
Sometimes your jacket fits your body perfectly, but the length of the sleeves is a problem. This can be rectified by having the sleeves ‘taken up’, which entails turning the sleeves up to the desired length, marking off that area, then either cutting or stitching the sleeve, leaving a little extra room to account for the seams.
Cutting the sleeves is most common because then they can be stitched up to remain at the new length, but some people prefer to just have them stitched up so that the full length of them can be pulled down again if the wearer should so choose.
Ideally, jacket sleeves should sit comfortably around your wrist bone, leaving your hands completely free and uncovered.
The difference between sleeves that are too long and sleeves that have been perfectly tailored to fit your arms is astounding, so you should definitely take your leather jacket to a tailor if you find that the sleeves are getting in the way a lot.
A professional tailor will be able to identify the best way to take up and hem your sleeves, so it shouldn’t be at all obvious, when looking at the material, where the sleeves were altered.
If You Need To Make The Jacket Shorter In Size
A leather jacket is different from a leather coat, so the bottom of the jacket should usually sit around the height of your hips. If your jacket seems to be longer than that, the entire jacket can be shortened in much the same way as the sleeves can be if they are too long.
And just as with the sleeves, you’ll need to precisely measure exactly where you want the jacket to sit after it is altered so that it can be shortened as accurately as possible.
Any embellishments at the bottom of the jacket should be removed before the length is shortened to make the process as easy as possible.
Then, the seams that hold the bottom of the jacket together can be ripped open, allowing for the material to be cut to your desired length. After it has been cut appropriately, the bottom of the jacket will need to be sewn up to return the jacket to perfect shape and any embellishments that you removed at the beginning can be replaced.
If You Need To Remove Buttons Or Zips
Removing buttons from a leather jacket is a lot less complicated than tailoring the size or shape of the jacket itself, though it still needs to be done carefully to avoid ruining the look of the material.
If the buttons are attached with thread then the task can be as simple as unpicking the thread to slide the buttons off, but a lot of the buttons on leather jackets are snap buttons (a set of tiny disks that are fused onto the material and then snapped shut together). If your jacket has snap buttons, they will need to be popped off the jacket with a flathead screwdriver.
Removing any zips from a leather jacket looks complicated, but it just needs to be done slowly and carefully. Most zips can be removed by unpicking the threads which hold them onto the jacket, both on the outside and the inside.
Unpicking the threads takes time and effort, especially as you don’t want to scratch or puncture the material in any way, but once they have all been removed, the zip can be pulled away from the rest of the jacket.
Ways To Get Your Jacket Tailored
Go To A Tailor
Nobody knows more about tailoring clothes than a professional tailor, so if you’ve got no idea what to do with your leather jacket, take it to a tailor.
They will be able to alter your jacket exactly as you want and they will do it with the utmost care so that the material of the jacket is preserved. You’ll be able to drop off your jacket with a tailor, let them know what about it needs to be changed and then leave them to work their magic.
A professional tailor will know how to alter certain materials, sizes and clothing items, so your delicate leather jacket will be in safe hands. You’ll be able to try it on again when you pick it up from the tailor to ensure that it has been altered perfectly and then you’ll be ready to wear it.
The difference between a tailored leather jacket and one that doesn’t quite fit you properly will be instantly obvious, so you’ll know that the tailor has done an excellent job.
Mend It Yourself
If you are someone who knows a bit about sewing and caring for different materials then you might be able to mend the jacket yourself. If it is something as simple as removing some buttons or altering a zip, it might not be necessary to consult a professional.
However, leather can be marked and scratched by any excessive force, so you’ll need to be very careful when working on it, even if you are talented at sewing.
Always seek out instructions from either other people or the internet, just to make sure that your plan to alter the jacket yourself is reasonable. Any extensive altering job might be best done by a professional tailor, especially with a material like leather that isn’t as easy to work with as cloth, unless you already have experience with mending leather clothing items.
It’s very easy to go wrong when altering a garment, particularly one as complex as a jacket, so only mend your leather jacket yourself if you’re sure of your abilities!
What Is The Cost Of Sending A Leather Jacket To A Tailor?
The cost of sending a leather jacket to a tailor will differ based on where you live and what professional tailors are available to you, but average costs typically span from around $50 up to $250.
So, while tailoring a leather jacket might not break the bank, it isn’t a super cheap endeavour either, especially since leather jackets tend to be pricey items of clothing in the first place. The type of leather that your jacket is made from is likely what will have the biggest impact on the cost, often pushing it towards the higher end of that estimate.
However, unless you’ve got solid experience of altering leather clothing, it is best to extend your budget to cover a professional tailor because they will be able to alter the jacket perfectly for you, and the cost of replacing a leather jacket that was damaged during the mending process will likely be much higher than the cost of the tailor.
If the task is as simple as removing some buttons or zips, the cost will be lower, but major alterations are more expensive, as they are for any tailored garment. The quality of an altered leather jacket that fits you will be well worth the price of tailoring.
