The Framers Forum

Hi, I would appreciate some ideas about securing a heavy jacket to backing board. I have a Nascar Drivers jacket in to frame. It is made of leather and is quite heavy and bulky.

I have done a fair few football shirts using a former inserted into the shirt and then sewn through to the backing board, with a few tags to keep the shape around the sleeves etc. This jacket is a lot heavier and bulkier than a shirt. It is quite stiff leather and holds its shape quite well. I may insert a former to keep its shape, but not sure if it will need it. My problem is how to secure it to the backing securely.

Would the Lion coathanger thing be any good - not used one before? I could potentially sew between the seams but the leather is quite tough and any help would be much appreciated - as always!

Gus wrote: Would the Lion coat hanger thing be any good - not used one before? I could potentially sew between the seams but the leather is quite tough and any help would be much appreciated - as always!

Both good ideas, or a combination of both.

To deal with sewing a stiff fabric or leather you need to have the proper equipment. You need an awl or sharpened long nail to pre-pierce through the leather seams. Second you need a heavy duty needle as used in the leather garment trade or horse equipment trade.

What will you use for the back board Gus as it will need to be strong to hold the weight, MDF?

Here is a mad idea. Get one of these. http://www.morplan.com/Product_10053_10 ... 1_-1_17703

Cut it it down to just the upper torso, construct a base for it to stand on, build a display case rather than a frame.

Don't ask me how to do it through!

This is an approach you could consider;
Make a profile to fit the waist and support it as a shelf, projected forward so that the back of the jacket can be draped over it, with enough height to allow any skirt to fall below the waist level.

Above the waist form shelf is the support for the shoulders, with the jacket draped over the shoulders it can be fastened up and packed out with tissue paper, a form for the neck provides a platform for material such as cream silk to be draped over and form neck shape.

The neck is then fixed to the backboard, clearing the collar of the jacket.

The diagram is over junky so that the general principle of the method can be shown, torso forms cut from thin ply or corex etc. could be fixed to the waist form, and obviously the neck support looks clumsy but it is surprising what a nice piece of silk will hide.

It might be necessary to pinch in some of the material at the back of the jacket, along the line of the line if the spine to get a finer shape.

Like it A3DFramer, I was thinking something very much on the same lines