How to decorate a leather and denim jacket: drawing, applique, embroidery

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When worn for a long time, any item loses its original appearance. For example, a product made of genuine leather can last for more than one season, however, over time, this material also becomes dull, faded and worn. However, you should not regretfully throw away a good-quality item that does not go out of fashion. There are many accessible, completely inexpensive ways to update an old leather jacket with your own hands, without resorting to the services of a dry cleaner or atelier. In this article, we will offer you several ideas on how to decorate a leather jacket, from which you can choose the most suitable one for yourself.

The first stage is cleaning

Before you start renewing something made from genuine leather, you need to clean it of various types of contaminants:

• Dust can be easily removed with a soft brush or dry foam sponge.
• The collar area, cuffs, pockets and the bottom of the product in the area of ​​buttons or zippers must be treated with a brush especially carefully.
• After dry cleaning is completed, the genuine leather jacket should be wiped with a slightly damp sponge or a piece of cotton fabric, previously soaked in a mild soap solution. The solution can be prepared from warm water with the addition of gel for delicate washing of woolen clothes, special shampoo or liquid soap.

Important! Hand washing leather clothing or using a washing machine is strictly prohibited.

• If your leather jacket has prints or decorative inserts made from another fabric, then the cleaning product must be selected separately for each of them.
• Complex stains, grease, and deeply absorbed dirt should be treated with a soft rag or cotton swab, previously soaked in a soap solution with the addition of a small amount of kerosene or ammonia.
• It is advisable to pre-wipe heavily greasy areas and oil stains with turpentine, purified gasoline or any other solvent.
• Stains from ink, paint, and marks from a ballpoint pen can be easily removed with acetic acid and alcohol.
• After wet cleaning, the soap solution must be removed from the surface of the leather product using plain water and a clean sponge.
• The item is wiped dry with a terry towel and dried at room temperature.

Important! Leather items should not be dried in the sun or near heating devices.

Painting a leather jacket

A good leather jacket will serve its owner for quite a long time, but only if you take care of it and update it on time. Painting with a special paint, which can be done at home, can help refresh a leather jacket at home.

This procedure can be done in two ways:

• Apply an aerosol can.
• Use powder that is soluble in water.

Aerosol

Renewing a leather product using the first method is very simple. For this:

• At a hardware store or market, you need to purchase a can of spray paint, the color of which does not have to be the same as the original. By choosing a different shade, the owner of the jacket will receive an almost new item that can enrich and diversify the wardrobe.

Important! Remember that you cannot paint a white or too light jacket black well - you will definitely end up with a more or less saturated gray. The same goes for the idea of ​​dyeing a black or too dark jacket white.

• The amount of paint should be taken based on the manufacturer's recommendations. As a rule, there are instructions on the can that indicate how much area can be covered with its contents.

Important! For a regular medium-sized jacket you should take at least two units of paint. And for a coat you will have to buy at least twice as much.

• Before applying paint, the clothes must be clean - we wrote above how to clean them.
• After the item is completely dry, it must be hung on a hanger in such a way that it can hang freely without touching anything.
• To protect your hands, wear rag or cellophane gloves, and cover everything around with newspaper.
• The aerosol must be applied evenly from a distance of 20 cm to the entire surface of the product.

Important! The manufacturer indicates the drying time on the packaging; as a rule, it is about two hours.

Powder paint

You can also update an old leather jacket with your own hands using powder paint:

• After preparing the dye (taking into account the manufacturer’s recommendations) in boiling water, cool it to 45 degrees.

Important! This is no longer necessary, as this can ruin the jacket - the leather will become brittle and quickly tear.

• Next, the clothes are immersed in the solution for a couple of hours, after which they are thoroughly rinsed until the water runs clear.
• Then the leather product is hung on hangers and left to dry in a dark, well-ventilated room.

Important! Experienced housewives recommend placing leather clothes in the dye solution in such a way that they do not bend or twist. This will allow the dye to evenly cover the entire surface of the product. Otherwise, unpainted areas may remain, and the procedure will have to be repeated.

Knitwear decorations with appliqués and embroidery

There are different ways to decorate a product with appliqués or embroidery.

How to sew a voluminous flower applique from knitwear:

Even if you've never embroidered before, this is the perfect time to start. An absolutely simple technique will allow even incompetent people to show off their talents. A simple white (or other color of your choice) T-shirt will turn into a fashionable item.

Getting rid of scuffs:

• You can refresh a leather jacket at home and hide the abrasions that inevitably appear on it using an ordinary orange peel. It contains a large amount of essential oils, so you should wipe the surface of the product with an orange peel - no trace will remain of shiny areas and abrasions.
• Children's or oily face cream will give the same excellent result. Using a woolen or flannel cloth, every part is lubricated with cream, and the remaining greasy substance is removed with a clean napkin. Finally, the jacket is polished to a shine with a soft, dry cloth.
• A mixture of turpentine and low-fat fresh milk can help eliminate abrasions and prevent their rapid appearance.

Important! If you periodically wipe a leather product with this mixture, it will retain its original appearance for a long time.

We return the skin to its natural shine

Restoring a leather jacket at home most often involves restoring the glossy coating of the material. Not only special polishes with a tinting or colorless effect, but also home remedies can cope with this task perfectly.

You don’t have to buy anything expensive or hard to find, as the following can help return your leather jacket to its original shine:

• Lemon juice.
• Egg white, which is whipped into a light foam.
• Glycerol.
• Castor oil.

The procedure is quite simple, regardless of which of the above remedies was chosen. A cotton pad is soaked in lemon juice, protein foam, glycerin or castor oil and wiped thoroughly, but without pressure, over the entire surface of the leather jacket.

Important! Do not forget that you can polish the product only after cleaning it.

These products can be used to update the appearance of leather items of any color.

Important! Dark jackets lend themselves well to polishing with coffee grounds. You should collect 2-3 tablespoons of wet coffee grounds in a piece of flannel fabric or a handkerchief and walk this bundle over the entire surface of the product. The effect will be great!

Methods of decorative finishing of leather products (20 photos)

But the old material that we have to deal with, even after careful preparation, stretching and touch-up, does not always look elegant enough. What, for example, should you expect from the tops of old boots? Scratches, abrasions, seam marks.

It doesn’t matter - all this can be easily disguised under the guise of decorative finishing: hide defects under appliqués, embroideries, stitches and holdings. The main thing is to place them well. And of course, maintain a sense of proportion.

An old leather bag, boots that are still strong but tired of their dull appearance, and a worn out old belt will become elegant and fashionable again if you put a little work, imagination and some simple finishing materials into them. For example, refresh the color and hide defects under the simplest finishing made of silk or nylon cord or a narrow leather strip. The figure shows a more complicated option, but the method is the same: mark the drawing with a pencil, make holes in the right places with an awl or punch, and lay a decorative cord, braid, or strong packaging synthetic twine over the drawing. The composition of circles of different diameters in the picture is suitable for decorating a bag.

The unsurpassed masters of the North have long held primacy in decorating leather products. Their products have always been distinguished by high artistic taste, a sense of color and proportions, and at the same time durability and practicality. Without describing techniques in the spirit of national traditions, our story will be incomplete.

For decorating leather crafts, small, seemingly useless scraps of leather, fur, scraps of fabric, braid, narrow straps, remnants of thick twisted wool yarn, colored cotton and linen threads, multi-colored beads and beads are useful.

Other recovery methods

For matte leather items, there are several options for upgrading an old leather jacket with your own hands. For example, a solution of cow's milk and turpentine will help restore the original beautiful appearance of a jacket. They are mixed in equal proportions, and then the resulting solution is treated with a thin layer on the surface of the jacket using a foam sponge.

Important! After the jacket has dried, its surface should be treated with hand cream. It will help soften the effect of turpentine and restore the product's elasticity and softness.

Another product that will help make your favorite item look presentable is Vaseline. A thin layer of ointment evenly applied to the material will restore the lost shine to the skin.

Important! The dandies in the old days, who wore leather clothes during revolutions and wars, returned them to their original appearance with the help of an ordinary bow. To do this, the onion was cut in half and the material was rubbed with its halves. This was followed by polishing the leather with a soft cloth. However, since it is quite difficult to eliminate the onion smell, this method is not the most successful.

Decorating a leather jacket

There are several ways to decorate a leather jacket and give it a completely new and unique look. Let's look at the options in more detail.

Draw and color

We will need:

• Fabric paints.
• Brushes.
• Contours on fabric.
• Spray varnish.

Sequencing:

• First you need to decide on the theme and location of the drawing. For example, you can put beautiful patterns on the shoulders and sleeves, write or draw something on the back, color the front sides of the jacket, and so on.

Important! If you are not very confident in your abilities as an artist, then it is better to use a stencil. You can make it yourself or download it online.

• First of all, you need to draw the contours of the future drawing.
• Next, use paints to start coloring. If patterns alone are enough for you, then you can get by with just colored outlines.
• After the paints are completely dry, you should cover the drawing with a special spray varnish for leather.

Important! The paints you use for drawing can also be used in spray form. You can also use an airbrush.

Decoupage

We will need:

• Glue for decoupage.
• Napkins with bright print.
• Fabric paints.
• Manicure scissors.
• Hair dryer.
• Brushes.
• Sponge.
• Spray varnish.

Sequencing:

1. First, you should cut out the parts you like from napkins.
2. Next, using glue, you need to glue the base (white layer) of the previously prepared decorative elements onto the jacket.
3. Then they are primed with white paint on the fabric, dried and bright details are applied on top of the painted bases.
4. All this is fixed with glue and left to dry.
5. After drying, if necessary, you can tint the design on top with paints, drying each element with a hairdryer.
6. Finally, the drawing is coated with spray varnish and left to dry for a day.

Safety pins

For this method to decorate a leather jacket, we will need a lot of safety pins. Everything is simple here: with the help of pins you need to accentuate some details of the jacket or form original patterns from them.

Important! When hanging such jewelry on your jacket, remember that you should not poke the pins - after each puncture, small holes remain in the skin.

Spikes, rhinestones and fabric applications

We will need:

• Spikes, pebbles, all kinds of rhinestones, fabric with an interesting image.
• Rubber glue for leather.
• Scissors.
• Doublerin.

Sequencing:

1. Plan your future pattern.
2. Next, using glue, carefully secure the rhinestones, stones, spikes and other hard decorative elements into place.
3. Glue fabric dyeing elements using leather glue.

Important! Rhinestones look very impressive on individual parts of the jacket - pockets, shoulder strap, collar

Making fringe, cutting out patterns

For this decoration option, we only need a sharp knife. Before you get started, you need to come up with your own decoration option. These can be: cut out patterns, fringe, checks, decorative seams and much more.

Important! Use a knife that is as sharp as possible when working on a wooden or plastic surface.

We turn a simple shirt into an unusual one: 3 master classes and 20 ideas

1. Select a design and its location on the jacket. The drawing can be printed on a printer on a sheet of regular office paper. (You can also use another method convenient for you to transfer the design onto fabric.)

2. Pin the sheet to the back of the jacket and hoop this area, catching the edges of the sheet so that the design does not move.

3. Secure the tail of the thread with a few stitches without making a knot.

4. Start embroidering following the pattern.

5. Try to fasten the thread without knots, and generally keep the reverse side of the embroidery as neat as possible.

6. Embroider the entire inscription in one chain, following the pattern. Then proceed to perform adjacent chains where necessary according to the drawing.

7. When all the embroidery is ready, remove the paper, tearing it where it is convenient. You can remove any remaining paper by soaking it together with the cloth.

8. All that remains is to dry the jacket.

Preventing contamination

As the well-known saying goes: “Clean where there is no litter.” There is no need to restore a leather item if you use it correctly:

To extend the life of clothes made of genuine leather, they do not need to be washed, especially using a washing machine - after this the material may become rough.

If you get caught in the rain without an umbrella, your outerwear should be hung on a hanger and left to dry in a well-ventilated area, for example, on a balcony. After this, you need to rub the jacket with regular hand cream.

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Photo: Pinterest/Demari Joseph-Dull

Photo: Pinterest/Semanur Hacıosmanoğlu