jfive67
Familiar Face
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- 63
I've gotten a few DM's on this so figured I would start a fresh thread given a lot of the information on this is deep in the archives.
Long story short: Bought a 3sixteen A2 in horsehide that was two sizes too small and was able to stretch it to fit almost perfectly with a fair amount of work. Jacket went from an XS to a short S/M and is relatively unscathed.
Full details:
Initial jacket state: Barely worn Schott X 3Sixteen A2 bomber in Horween Chromexcel Horsehide in size XS. I could put the jacket on over a t shirt, but could barely zip it up. When closed, the zipper was holding onto dear life and I could barely move my arms.
The Process
-Made a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water in a spray bottle. Sprayed the jacket and really saturated the leather but not to the point of the liner being more than a hint moist in some places.
-I then stuffed the sleeves with pillows to loosen sleeves and arm holes. I considered using a hat stretcher for the arm holes, but since I needed the sleeves a bit wider the pillows worked for both sleeves and armholes (I think I used two queen pillows per arm).
-For the chest, I used a cheap new exercise ball from Amazon. I put the deflated ball in the jacket, zipped it, and started pumping it up. It took a few inflating/deflating cycles to position the widest part of the ball at the chest point of the jacket. Once I had it set at the right point, I really inflated the ball to the point that the jacket was taught.
-I then let the jacket sit for a day until it was completely dry. Touched it up with some pecards to reverse any dryness caused by the alcohol
Two cautions for you:
1) I would stretch the jacket in phases. Start with some pressure, let it dry, try it on afterwards, and then assess if you need to stretch more. I overdid it a bit the first go around. While the chest fits perfectly, the lower back now blouses out a bit. Not a huge deal and probably something that will correct in time, but definitely the product of me being too aggressive.
2) make sure you avoid the zippers when spraying the jacket. If you get the cotton band of the zipper wet, it will shrink causing the zipper to become wavy. It’s then kind of annoying to zip up. It’s still manageable by using my index finger to keeping tension on the wavy part of the zipper band as I’m pulling up the zipper, but definitely annoying and my only regret about the project.
Final State
Whole exercise took a day and now I’ve got a jacket that fits great. The arms and chest fit perfectly. The lower back billows out a bit, but it actually looks kind of period-correct and is not noticeable from the front. Hopefully I hold onto it long enough to warrant a zipper replacement and it will really be perfect!
Long story short: Bought a 3sixteen A2 in horsehide that was two sizes too small and was able to stretch it to fit almost perfectly with a fair amount of work. Jacket went from an XS to a short S/M and is relatively unscathed.
Full details:
Initial jacket state: Barely worn Schott X 3Sixteen A2 bomber in Horween Chromexcel Horsehide in size XS. I could put the jacket on over a t shirt, but could barely zip it up. When closed, the zipper was holding onto dear life and I could barely move my arms.
The Process
-Made a 50/50 mix of isopropyl alcohol and distilled water in a spray bottle. Sprayed the jacket and really saturated the leather but not to the point of the liner being more than a hint moist in some places.
-I then stuffed the sleeves with pillows to loosen sleeves and arm holes. I considered using a hat stretcher for the arm holes, but since I needed the sleeves a bit wider the pillows worked for both sleeves and armholes (I think I used two queen pillows per arm).
-For the chest, I used a cheap new exercise ball from Amazon. I put the deflated ball in the jacket, zipped it, and started pumping it up. It took a few inflating/deflating cycles to position the widest part of the ball at the chest point of the jacket. Once I had it set at the right point, I really inflated the ball to the point that the jacket was taught.
-I then let the jacket sit for a day until it was completely dry. Touched it up with some pecards to reverse any dryness caused by the alcohol
Two cautions for you:
1) I would stretch the jacket in phases. Start with some pressure, let it dry, try it on afterwards, and then assess if you need to stretch more. I overdid it a bit the first go around. While the chest fits perfectly, the lower back now blouses out a bit. Not a huge deal and probably something that will correct in time, but definitely the product of me being too aggressive.
2) make sure you avoid the zippers when spraying the jacket. If you get the cotton band of the zipper wet, it will shrink causing the zipper to become wavy. It’s then kind of annoying to zip up. It’s still manageable by using my index finger to keeping tension on the wavy part of the zipper band as I’m pulling up the zipper, but definitely annoying and my only regret about the project.
Final State
Whole exercise took a day and now I’ve got a jacket that fits great. The arms and chest fit perfectly. The lower back billows out a bit, but it actually looks kind of period-correct and is not noticeable from the front. Hopefully I hold onto it long enough to warrant a zipper replacement and it will really be perfect!
