*** The official and awesome DIY thread ***

[colabear]

"Peach Cobbler Coat"
pie crust=camel wool
peach filling=orange puffer sleeves
whipped cream=detachable shearling collar

 

[Parker]

Any recommended brands for fabric spraypaint? i.e. goes on easy, evenly. Not concerned with longevity.

 

[double00]

 

[notwithit]

Neither official nor awesome, but I picked up this Gant Rugger suede shirt a while ago and decided to mess around with it.

First I took some very fine sandpaper and gently brushed it over the snaps to dull them down and give them more of a satin finish (I started out using a Brillo pad, but it didn't have any effect).

Next, I applied Otter Wax over the whole surface. This was considerably more difficult than I expected. I think waxing a relatively burly canvas is probably going to be a lot more straightforward than waxing a relatively soft split suede (in this case, goat). The nap is fairly fine, but the wax bar still catches instead of running smoothly over the surface. It doesn't help that it's a softer, thinner skin, so it tends to bunch up.

I tried melting the wax in using a cheap, old hairdryer that was lying around the house with pretty much zero success; the hairdryer never got hot enough to melt the wax. I ended up getting a heat gun on Amazon, which worked much, much better.

Here's a view of the sleeve, first with the wax applied and then with it melted in:

My first thought after finishing the initial waxing was 'geez, this seems like a lot of wax'. My first thought after going over it with the heat gun was 'needz moar wax!' It's definitely a change in visual texture (long with some added stiffness), but it's not as dramatic as I expected. If / when I wax it again, I'll probably start with a bigger bar and either a) wave the heat gun over the bar as I use it so it goes on melty-er or b) try melting the wax entirely with the heat gun (maybe in a ramekin?) and then brushing it onto the surface. Either way, I'll likely wax the shirt in sections and use the heat gun to melt the wax into each sections as I go.

Other important learnings:

- Heat guns get pretty hot. I don't think the one I bought got as hot as advertised (I had it cranked up pretty far after a while and nothing was spontaneously combusting). Regardless, starting low and slowly dialing up the heat is advisable.

- If you're waxing something that has hardware, you're going to have to clean the hardware off (or at least clean around it) with a soft cloth, which will be easiest (and most dangerous) when the wax - and therefore also the metal - are still hot. Gotta be careful around hot liquid wax and hot metal.

- Dust isn't as much of a problem as I expected. I tried to brush off the surface before I started, but the fan on the heat gun basically blew any dust from the surface while the wax melted in. The waxed jacket - which isn't sticky or anything - is still kind of a dust magnet.

- I don't know if there's a maximum amount of wax that a given piece of suede can handle, but generally speaking the areas with more wax look better (as do the areas around the seams).

Fit pic:

 

[flowcharts]

Otter wax is annoyingly tough to work with. I've had better success getting the waxed suede look with sno-seal

 

[notwithit]

Otter wax is annoyingly tough to work with. I've had better success getting the waxed suede look with sno-seal

Interesting, thanks. I may give that a shot.

 

[eglbc]

Made a tote. Need to order some better material and go at it proper. Lots of pockets and dividers + lining

 

[ghdvfddzgzdzg]

I wore a big hole in the pocket on these 3-sixteens so I did what I had to do

 

[colabear]

English countryside
English flowers

 

[colabear]

scene from the fabric store

fabric swatch

 

[colabear]

London Town

 

[NGOStudio]

@notwithit not sure if you knew about this little store but they have many helpful products for leathercraft and finishing job: http://goodsjapan.com/

 

[NGOStudio]

Hi guys! I've been doodling around an idea for a short sleeve popover shirt with a decorative placket in a shape of a phallus, sort of like a man's version of a décolleté. The length of the phallus placket can be customized depending on your liking or needs. I'm also thinking of doing a contrasting fabric for the shirt body ( yellow oxford cloth) and the phallus placket ( pink poplin). Pardon my drawing since I haven't sketch for ages.

Reminds me of Walter Van Beirendonck

 

[colabear]

Oh thanks! WVB is one of my favorite British menswear designers

 

[colabear]

I march to the beat of my own drum