UKH

I have an old Mountain Equipment drilite down jacket. Its still in good condition, except the elastic at the cuffs has gone and I get cold wrists/forearms. Does anyone have any tips for a DIY repair, or pointers to somewhere I could get it done professionally?

In reply to andyjohnson0:

I'd just google "clothing repairs in xxxxxx" where x is wherever you live. If it has to be an outdoor gear specialist Lancashire Sports Repairs in Burnley are well thought of, but depending on location may involve extra expenditure on postage. I have a Drilite duvet of similar vintage. It also has saggy wrists.

In reply to andyjohnson0:
Having looked at my Rab jacket, I would imagine that it wouldn't be impossible to carefully unpick the stitching on the inside of the cuff, and either replace the elastic, or if that seems too complex, add more elastic and sew up the insides again.

If not unpick it, you might be able to to carefully cut open the fabric where the cuff meets the sleeve, and do the same thing. How happy you'd feel doing this might depend on your sewing skills.

Having looked at my cuffs a bit more, the actual fabric doesn't seem elasticated, with there being a loop of elastic inside the fabric, so you could probably just buy some more of the right width, and cut through the no longer elastic loops in your cuffs and replace with fresh elastic.

If any repairs you make are hidden from view, I wouldn't be too stressed about using a sharp craft knife to carefully open up the fabric on the insides of the cuff, you can always sew things back up again if you lose confidence and send it off for replacement elastic and nothing would be visible.

In reply to andyjohnson0:
On my two ME jackets the elastic is only in less than half of the cuff, and is only sewn at either end (not anywhere along the length of the elastic). If yours is the same, and you are not too fussed about looks and happy with DIY, I would either just get elastic of similar colour of the jacket cuff and stitch on the outside right through to the inner old elastic. Alternatively, if you want it to look better carefully cut two slits across the cuff at either end of the elastic preferably on the inside of the cuff, cut and remove old elastic, insert new, stitch new in place and re-sow slits. Latter should be totally unseen unless you slit outside, but may have slight bulges due to extra elastic at original stitch points unless you actually unpick the end stitching that the old is attached to (easier said than done unless your experienced).

If your not happy with DIY, either google for local alteration place or send to one of the outdoor professionals. You could contact ME to see who they recommend? Personally if it's an outdoor practical jacket I would just go for option 1 and accept it's got "character" of your adventures.

In reply to andyjohnson0:

What sort of elastication is it? Elastic in a fabric sleeve, or a 'lycra edging strip'? If the latter, just unpick the old and replace with new; you can buy it by the metre.

I'm not sure the suggestions for just sewing on more elastic would work; dead elastic is quite thick, and not keen to be made to shrink back again. I suspect it would giver a puckered result.

In reply to Climbing Pieman:

I'm wondering if adding fresh elastic which is slightly shorter might avoid any bulges, given elastics ability to contract, and if he has velcro tabs as well, his cuffs could still be tight enough once he's finished.

It 'can' be a pain to totally unpick things sometimes.

In reply to andyjohnson0:

I am half way through sorting new elastic on the cuffs on my drilite jacket. The narrow cuff at the end of the sleeve (which used to be elastic) is conveniently hollow so I snipped a little hole and threaded in some elastic cord (taken from an old rucksack rain cover). The snip needs to be where the sleeve seam meets the cuff so you can thread the elastic round in a loop. A spare toggle on the end of the elastic and a overhand knot and the job is mostly done. Just need to sew the toggles onto the hem and I will be finished.

In reply to andyjohnson0:

Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. Much appreciated!

I've had a good look at the jacket tonight and, as with Timmd's, the cuff fabric is not elasticated but I can feel what appears to be a length of flat elastic inside. It seems to be bunched around a seam where I assume the ends were tacked over, so I assume it broke or wore out near the middle.

I'm currently wearing the jacket to walk to/from work. Once it gets too warm for that, in a few weeks, I'll unpick an entry-point, extract the old elastic and source some new thicker stuff. I can just about manage a bit of hand-sewing. Backup plan is Lancashire Sports Repairs, which isn't too far away from where I live in Manchester.

Andy