Please fix this bear's coat. Thank you.

September 26, 2011 10:21 AM

The leather-thing holding it on snapped and one of the toggles has come off my duffle-coat. I have the toggle itself, and I have acquired some spare leather-things, but I'm not sure of the best way to re-attach. I don't have a sewing machine, and I don't think I know anyone who does. I have discovered that a thing called 'Fabric glue' exists, but is it any better than superglue? Will superglue work on wool/leather? I could put a few hand-stitches, but the thickness of both bits of material make me think that I might not be able to do a very good job.

This is a picture of the coat (mine's brown, but I don't think that will affect the repair). It's the 2nd from the top that's broken. The vaguely circular bits of leather either side of the coat are 'hollow'...sewed only round the edges, and the leather-things slide inside, which I'm thinking I can somehow benefit from to help anchor securely. The non-broken leather-things are sewn as they go into the circle-bits, and then again a couple of centimetres closer to the edge...you can just about see the stitches on the picture.

I have 10 spare leather-things, so experimentation is possible. I also have 10 different toggles (repair-kit for a different type of coat...leather-things aren't identical, but are the same length and close enough colour), but I don't think replacing all of the toggles is the best option.

posted by gregjones to clothing, beauty, & fashion (7 answers total)

Is going to a tailor prohibitive for any reason? Because if you want this to look professionally done, that's probably your best bet.
posted by brainmouse at 10:24 AM on September 26, 2011

Fabric glue won't work, especially on wool - it will settle into the top layer of the wool and the minute there's enough pull on the toggle it will tear.

Take it to a tailor! An even minimally competent one will be able to fix this, probably for pretty cheap - much, much cheaper than ruining the coat, anyway. I wouldn't attempt this repair myself, and I do almost all my basic mending/button-sewing by hand.
posted by Frowner at 10:41 AM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

I don't think glue is going to work. It has to be sewn. I would try a tailor too. Or possibly a shoe repair place might be able to fix it. I had a belt fixed at a shoe repair place once and they did a great job.
posted by interplanetjanet at 10:43 AM on September 26, 2011

If you don't go the tailor route you might consider investing in an awl since that fabric looks heavy and you mention that some 'things' are leather. I'd say see how much a tailor would charge and go from there. Craigslist services section might be worth looking into as well.
posted by RolandOfEld at 11:09 AM on September 26, 2011

Nthing tailor - fabric glue will not be strong enough to hold on a fastener. Imagine gluing your buttons onto your shirt. I would guess you can get in and out of the tailor for under $20. Maybe much less. You'd spend $6-7 just on glue!

Tailors and shoe repair places are the best thing ever.
posted by mskyle at 11:10 AM on September 26, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you can't get to a tailor, you may also want to try someone who repairs shoes. I recently had a velcro closure replaced with a button, going this route (He even made a button hole).

Er, what interplanetjanet said.
posted by loriginedumonde at 6:16 PM on September 26, 2011

Local tailor said their sewing-machine couldn't do leather. Local shoe-repair place think they can do it, will be dropping it off tomorrow, once I've removed the marmalade sandwiches and sticky-buns from the pockets.
posted by gregjones at 12:23 PM on October 2, 2011 [1 favorite]