A hole or rip in a leather jacket is not a death sentence, but a development of character! Leather holes and rips can be mended using patching and sewing for near invisible results or intentional aesthetic flairs! At Awl Together Leather, we patch torn leather using the same glue from our cobbling work that typically holds boots together – it’s very strong and flexible. This enables us to only stitch a hole if truly necessary. Read more about the common types of hole patching, including denim mending, below.
At Awl Together Leather, we fix rips in leather jackets almost daily. The most common method of repair is via an internal patch which results in a near-invisible mend. We will open the lining of an item, glue in a thinly skived piece of leather, add any necessary stitching, and reclose the item. Usually, we only add stitching if the rip is along a pre-existing seam or in a high-use area (such as along a pocket or armpit). All hole patches are finished with a color touch-up on the torn area, for the best blend possible.
If your rip was caused by the area being too tight, commonly seen in the armpits or shoulders, we can expand the area to prevent further tears!
Sometimes, the best method for fixing a hole is via an eternal patch. This is usually the case when material is missing from the item or when a previous repair was done using superglue (which hardens into a crispy mess). With exterior hole patches, the world your oyster! We can match the leather in color and tone as closely as possible and place the patch with a subtle design (seam-seam), for a camouflaged repair. Or we could use a wide range of shapes and colors to add custom designs to your jacket – such as hearts, stars, or more. See our standard leather colors below.
Pro Tip: Never patch leather holes or rips using superglue – always us a leather-specific contact cement.
Shearling jackets are quite prone to rips and tears as they dry out over time, causing the leather to become brittle and break. Due to the internal wool, most shearling jacket tears are repaired via an external patch. Commonly, a similar shade of beige or brown is selected, and a seam-seam patch is glued and sewn on. Sometimes, we will add a matching patch on the opposite side of the jacket to balance the design. See our standard leather colors below.
Fur jackets are characterized by pieced together outward facing fur panel with a lining protecting the wearer. Holes and rips in fur coats can be very difficult to see but are very common under armpits and by pockets. Usually, when a fur jacket is brought to us for a hole repair, we often find more rips visible from inside the jacket, behind the lining. Fur jacket holes are repaired via an interior leather patch, which almost always results in a perfectly invisible fix.
Awl Together Leather is Vancouver’s expert in fur jacket repair, owning one of the only fur jacket sewing machines in the city. We can sew and mend all types of fur including Mink, Rabbit, Persian Lamb, Fox, Coyote, Lynx, Otter, Raccoon, Beaver and more.
Firstly, we hope you’re okay! Slide-outs can be scary and we’re glad you were wearing the gear to save your skin. After a crash, we can repair burn holes, rips, popped stitching, and messed up zippers and snaps. Our repairs are done with longevity and safety in mind. Depending on the extent of the damage, we can offer either an internal or external hole patch. For safety gear, we specifically default to larger patches, for more protection, and always use motorcycle safety-rated thread (BD69) for strength.
We are also able to patch elasticized stretch panels, commonly seen on the knees of racing suits. As well as Kevlar, mesh, or mixed-material elements of motorcycle gear. If the crash got through your lining, we can replace it fully or add a patch as well.
Did you know? We’ve worked on leather longboarding suits as well!
Bags that see heavy use can develop holes in the bottom corners of the bag – commonly seen on piped edges. Patching these imperfections is detailed work that requires precise stitching and very thin leather. When it comes to your beloved brands like Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Longchamp, Coach, Michael Kors, or Celine, we proceed with care.
Sometimes the hardest part of patching a piping corner is matching the color of the original leather. Fortunately, Awl Together Leather has an in-house color expert that can produce an almost exact color match to apply for a seamless repair. See our standard leather colors below.
Any denim lover hates the day that your beloved jeans wear thin on the inner thighs. Fortunately, Awl Together Leather offers denim mending services via machine darning. In this process, we back the worn section of your jeans or jacket with denim of a matching tone and sew over it in the direction of the grain, using a blended color cotton thread. The result is a reinforced section with blended stitching, ready to wear.
We know the value of good fitting denim and the time it takes develop the perfect denim fade. Brands like Iron Heart, Dutil, Naked & Famous, Nudie, and Decade are worth re-investing in. (We truly love Decade- Molly’s a friend doing great work).
Canvas and waxed cotton can develop holes and fraying with time. This is normal and can be fixed in a multitude of ways! Usually, we recommend either adding exterior leather patches (such as leather sleeve cuffs) or patching the area in the same manner as denim darning. We keep a wide stock of leather (see our standard leather colors below), denim, canvas, waxed cotton – and even felt – in-store for patching and custom jobs.
And yes! We rewax canvas and cotton jackets and bags! We use Otter Wax for our in-store rewaxing process, which is the default wax trusted for Barbour, Belstaff, and Filson waxed garments. Or you can purchase the Otter Wax in-store only to rewax your wax cotton item yourself.
What if the lining of your item is torn or shredded? Well, we could patch it, or we could remake it. Linings often fray and depending on the extent it is sometimes better to just remake them (read more about our re-lining process here). If your lining has a small tear or hole, Awl Together Leather can fix lining tears with an interior melt-on hole patch.
Awl Together Leather keeps a very large variety of garment-weight leathers for our work! Below are our standard-order thin leathers, the ones we restock and have a steady supply of. However, this is just a fraction of the leather colors and weights kept on hand! We frequently have one-off hides or off-cuts in extreme variety of tones that could match your project perfectly. And if not, our in-house color expert could mix a custom color match to apply for a perfectly camouflaged repair.
Wanting to see our collection of heavy-weight leathers, denim, waxed canvas, cotton, lining materials, felt and more? Click here or for the best result come into the store!
Visible mending, often called darning, is the process of hand-weaving threads to fill and reinforce a hole or worn area. This is commonly done on light-weight textiles like cotton or linen or on knitwear such as sweaters (via Swiss darning). Recently, sashiko, a Japanese mending practice, has increased in popularity. Sometimes, internal or external fabruc patches will be used in conjunction with sashiko or hand-darning, to provide additional support to the damaged area.
Awl Together Leather does not offer visible mending services any longer. Owner, Tess Gobeil, is a kick-ass visible mending expert (see her work @makedomending), however, we could not mend at pace that is feasible to support our workshop overhead costs.
We highly suggest checking out these local menders for commissions:
1. Reuben – @RuebenKnits, contact via Instagram
2. Arinn – West End Mends, https://www.westendmends.ca/
3. June – a local knitwear repairer (invisible only), Her email is jj351@hotmail.com
Awl Together Leather does offer classes teaching visible mending skills, or providing on-site repairs (by hand or machine!), in partnership with environmentally-conscious brands. Read more about facilitation of classes and workshops here.