I recently acquired the leather jacket to wear with my corporates. However, I got it from Airborne Leathers, instead of Vanguard. It was half the price that way, but it does not have the velcro attached for the patches. I am hesitant to poke holes in the leather to sew on the velcro. Is there any other satisfactory way to attach the velcro, like perhaps a glue?
Colgan just did this to his jacket. PM "JC004"
you could have the patches painted on ;)
very 1940's
I'm also the proud owner of an Airborne Leathers jacket. Like you, I was a little nervous about sewing the velcro on. However, I took it down to the people that also do the alterations and cleaning of my other uniform items (they have proven very trustworthy), and three days and a couple of bucks later my jacket was ready.
I've worn it a few times since then, and all is well. Velcro is staying in place with no signs of the thread tearing the leather. All in all, I'm quite pleased.
I went to Life Support and said, "can you sew this thing?" and the chief said, "no problem!" I only had to wait until the next drill to get it.
I've actually sewed patches onto a leather jacket myself. If your sewing machine is strong enough, or you manually operate it (i.e. twist the big knob yourself instead of counting on the motor), you should be able to put the velcro on it.
Or, go check out either a shoe repair shop or a tailor/dry cleaner who handles leather goods.
By the way, I went for the very expensive, but very nice Pop's Leather A-2. Absolutly awesome.
I, too, purchased an A2 from Airborne Leathers. I have absolutely no qualms about sewing patches to a $99 jacket.
I would for a $300 jacket!
Dr. Dave
I just had my tailor sew on the Velcro on my Airborne Leathers black A-2. My wife cut the Velcro to size for me. I gave the tailor the pictures of the jacket from Vanguard, the policy letter authorizing the A-2, and a few additional pictures that were posted to CAPTALK. He sewed it on and it looks great. I'm looking forward to wearing it to this weeks meeting. Any qualified tailor should be able to knock it out with ease...
Okay, so I guess I find somewhere to have them sewn on. Of course, I first have to wait until Vanguard sends me the name plate. :(
For Airborne Leathers, your dry-cleaner/sew shop should be able to handle it. I thought about doing it myself, but deferred to the pros instead: they usually have the "industrial" machines to do it with.
Remember that the velcro for the brown-on-black A-2 nametag is slightly larger than for your flight suit.
Placement: your nametag will have to go above the internal pocket of the A-2, and to the left of the leather seam on the inside of the jacket. Like Flying Terp, when I went to the sew shop I took the picture of the jacket from Vanguard with me: the placement of the velcro in that picture is exactly where it needs to be, and will not interfere with pockets or seams.
I said on another thread that I had my command patch sewn onto a leather backing with a black border, to match the nametag-looks really nice (again, you have to cut the velcro to fit, as it will be slightly larger.) Any shop that does flightsuit nametags should be able to do it for you.
Also: jackets come with a hook & eye attachment (Old classic jackets are nickel, modern use black oxide) the hook is on the inside of the top of the flap the covers the zipper, and the eye is under the right collar point.
Illustrations are available at http://www.acmedepot.com/a2jacket/a2detail.html
I found the right size hooks (Dritz-brand extra-large coat hook & eyes from Jo-Ann Fabrics) but haven't found someone who can attach it. It uses very small rivets.
Does anyone know if a shoe repair can do this??