National Clothesline

You know that as long as people wear suede and leather garments they will manage to make holes in them. The holes are caused by cigarette burns, punctures, pinches and pulls in weak areas.

Where the skin is burned through or a piece of the skin is missing, mending by our regular patching method is not practical because the missing piece of skin must be replaced with a piece of skin that matches the surrounding skin in color and texture. For example, if the surrounding skin is a red cowhide, then the replacement piece of skin must be a matching piece of red cowhide.

But, you say, the skin around the hole caused by a cigarette burn is also hard and brown and is drawn up because of the heat that caused the hole in the first place. Or that the hole in the skin is irregular in shape. What do I do about that?

Well, I’m glad you asked!

What you need to do is to cut out the brown drawn up or irregular hole in the skin in a way that will leave a clean-cut circle. Then you must cut out a matching piece of skin in the exact same size circle that will fit into the clean cut circle you cut in the damaged skin. This circular matching piece of skin can then be held in place with a larger back-up patch made from any piece of suede or leather and glued to the under side of the damaged area using the Permahold Glue just like you would do if you were mending a torn place in the skin.

Again you say, how do I cut an exact circle in the damaged skin and in the matching piece of skin that I will glue into the circular hole I cut in the damaged area of the skin?

Well I thought you would never ask!

The big secret is to acquire and use a set of punch-out tools. This relatively inexpensive set of tools comes with an assortment of hole sizes and is available through leather craft stores. Hole sizes include 5é16", 1é4", 3é8", 7é16", 1é2", 5é8", 3é4", 7é8" and 1". They come in tool kits much like a socket wrench set kit.

Punch out tools

The hole and the patch are both punched out with the same size hole punch so that the patch will fit the hole exactly. The hole punch is held in place with one hand and the top of the punch is hit with a hammer to drive the sharp end of the punch through the skin with the damage hole in it. The procedure is again repeated through the matching skin of the patch.

The larger back up patch is then glued to the back of the hole punched in the garment using the Perma-Hold Glue that will hold it in place through subsequent wearings and cleanings. Then the hole patch is carefully placed into the hole that it matches exactly! Do not use excess Perma-Hold glue on the back side of the matching patch. If you do it will come up through the cut seam.

Once the Perma-Hold Glue dries, the mended area will be far less noticeable than the original hole, especially on suede, while your reputation as a leather expert will grow as will the cash in your cash register!

Happy punching, patching, mending and adding point of sale $$!!