The Death of a jacket... Or 'I've losht it Marcush!'

[The Character]

So ... Here is a tale of woe to fill your hearts with dread. A comedy of errors one might almost say, and being a seasoned 'distressing' monkey I should have known better.... And chosen wisely!



I got a lovely custom Wested Last Crusade a couple of years back in lamb skin and went through the usual moves of distressing it to my taste .. It's probably the best LC distressing I've ever done ... I showered it off with hot water .. Let it dry then lightly knocked back the relevant LC pattern.



In fairness it's been a bit neglected as I'm more fond of my TOD's but it got a good few outings under its belt.


Flash forward said couple of years and


Mistake No 1
I decide in my wisdom that I'd like to give it a slightly darker under pallete colour so I get some oil based leather dye and set to it .. End result it's okay-ish but it's knocked the distressing back almost completely and make it look a bit shiny.


Mistake No 2
I decide I'd rather go back to how it was before so I set at it with leather cleaners ... Hot water etc ...and then go over the distressed areas lightly to try and bring those back at the very least. Result ... Not much difference.


Mistake No 3
The fatal one .... I make two .. no 3 horrible errors
1/ .. Wash it in the washing machine. Having done this before I know although it works it's not right for an LC as the shape gets mangled too much unlike a Raiders or TOD.
2/ wash it at 60 degrees ... If you wash a jacket never do it above 30 or cold ... Schoolboy error
3/ the worst.... because the dye is oil based I decide that I need to use detergent!


Now this took five minutes but knowing what I know ... At this point alarm bells should have been going off like A man with a backpack walking into the MOD reception area... Whereas my brain was saying 'what's the worst that can happen?

End result removing the jacket from the machine I knew immediately it was battered VERY BADLY .. I tried to hang it up and it was horribly out of shape .. I lay it flat to pull it back into shape .. It would not go.


Mistake No 4
I hang it up to dry ... Lose patience and put it into the dryer for 30 mins thinking that will help pull it back into shape.
It's still damp. Still horrible distorted and pulled out of shape.
So not able to hang it up due to the extra pulling on already mangled shoulders I 's left laid out on a table in the sun to dry ...


The next day I have a cardboard jacket ... It's not fully dry and already it weighs less than any other jacket I have. Basically the heat and detergent have sucked the life from it ....

Ah hah .. Solution ... Re-wet it!!! So it's showered and hung up. Nope ... That fails to do anything .. It's just damp and thin ... And out of shape


Mistake 5
The steam iron .... I've used this before to flatten out and reshape leather but in my final moment of stupidity I press the steam button ... The arm of the jacket visibly shrinks under the onslaught ..


So I now have a thin, dry ghastly looking thing with a burnt and mangled arm in place of a once perfect LC...


My next thought takes me to dark territory ..'pecards! .. Pecards ... Now you need to know I hate that stuff. I'll ise it on a whip but never on a jacket .. It's just greasy horrible nasty stuff .. It will waterproof your seams but does nothing for leather in my opinion.


Several slatherings later .... Yup I now have a thin, dry ghastly looking thing with a burnt and mangled arm slathered in grease in place of a once perfect LC.


The next few days involved various remedies ... I the end I wore it to the local Park when I took my son Harrison out. En route I saw the burn on the arm had split showing the lining in several areas ... I poked a finger through ... The sleeve peeled apart like paper ... I then put my hand in the right hand pocket and the pocket peeled off the jacket and tore the main jacket panel with it ... On closer examination I realised the entire jacket was able to be peeled apart like wet cardboard ... It's too short life was ended by being dispatched into the park bin ...


So there we are folks ... A lesson in what not to do to a jacket and making a series of drastic moves in an effort to undo one poorly thought out action. Let's change the colour a bit ...


It was perfect as it was ... I just wanted to post this here to say even us seasoned jacket wearers do dumb as hell stuff ... For the best of intentions ..

Notch it up to experience I guess ... 'Fortune and Glory honey!'... Anything can happen!



Sent from my BB8 Unit on a Resistance coded frequency

[Tibor]

So, screen accurate if Indy had worn a jacket in the refrigerator in Crystal Skull... May it rest in peace (pieces).

[The Character]

Well let's just say I'll never see the words 'crispe lamb skin' without wincing ever again ....

[neutronbomb]

Nooooo! You didn't throw it away. You had just wound up with the perfect TOD jacket

[KidHuevos]

What, no pics?


*ducks thrown Pecards container*




In all seriousness, sorry to hear that it happened.

[Glenville86]

They have a local clothing drive every few months where I live. I have sent a few jackets off to new homes after I did something that came out all wrong and could not be redone to my satisfaction. Anymore, I may wet them down in the shower but that is it. I have had both success and failure using the washing machine and the dryer.....