New here, with a question

[regius]

Hi, just joined the forum, very excited! My interest in the field of leather works is in fact about clothing. I’ve been a vintage fashion follower for more than ten years and have been obsessed with vintage leather jackets. I first got into leather jacket back in college, inspired by the Terminator outfit, and saw a 1977 Elton John concert where he wore a black cross zip jacket. The real force behind it was actually the fact that it was not attainable. I couldn’t afford it, my mother didn’t want to entertain it, so it became an intense desire to compensate! Twelve years later I had managed to buy and sell probably over a hundred jackets from original 30s, 40s to current production by brands like Schott, Vanson, Langlitz and Aero etc. Six years ago I decided to learn sewing and pattern making because there are vintage designs from old catalogues and jacket collection books that no one makes, so I wanted to make them myself. I work with a Juki DNU1541 walking foot and a plastic home machine for the lining and thinner leather. 
 

As for the question, it’s about a hardware component. Many classic American jacket from the golden era feature the so-called half-belt, with two small buckle/sliders on each side to cinch the waist. This pair of buckles came in various shapes and surface carving/etchings, very small detail but makes a huge difference to differentiate the price point of my product. I am able to source a variety of single-pin buckle or single bar slider, but very hard to find ones that have alternative shapes (heart shape, curved, beveled, round), and even more difficult to get any sort of artsy surface “decoration” (lines, little dents, usually, Art Deco). So if anyone has suggestion where to buy decorated side sliders I’d really appreciate it. 

[Retswerb]

I assume you’ve tried buckleguy.com? I can’t quite picture what you’re referring to, a pic would help.

Welcome aboard!

[Spyros]

try this guy?

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/JUIYTREEHOUSE?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=699710723&section_id=23803929

[regius]

Hi, thanks for the help! I have indeed browsed buckle guy and the many Etsy vendors, they all have very good sliders, but not the artsy vintage type. I'm still figuring out attaching photo, maybe this one? (it worked). 
So you can see, vintage jackets used anything they could find, but it was just that they could find some cool ones. The top left, top right, middle left, middle right, bottom left (REALLY cool)

Edited March 22, 2023 by Northmount
Replaced 3rd part link with resized photo

[ErinJacob]

On 7/13/2020 at 8:25 AM, regius said:

Hi, just joined the forum, very excited! My interest in the field of leather works is in fact about clothing. I’ve been a vintage fashion follower for more than ten years and have been obsessed with vintage leather jackets. I first got into leather jacket back in college, inspired by the Terminator outfit, and saw a 1977 Elton John concert where he wore a black cross zip jacket. The real force behind it was actually the fact that it was not attainable. I couldn’t afford it, my mother didn’t want to entertain it, so it became an intense desire to compensate! Twelve years later I had managed to buy and sell probably over a hundred jackets from original 30s, 40s to current production by brands like Schott, Vanson, Langlitz and Aero etc. Six years ago I decided to learn sewing and pattern making because there are vintage designs from old catalogues and jacket collection books that no one makes, so I wanted to make them myself. I work with a Juki DNU1541 walking foot and a plastic home machine for the lining and thinner leather. 
 

As for the question, it’s about a hardware component. Many classic American jacket from the golden era feature the so-called half-belt, with two small buckle/sliders on each side to cinch the waist. This pair of buckles came in various shapes and surface carving/etchings, very small detail but makes a huge difference to differentiate the price point of my product. I am able to source a variety of single-pin buckle or single bar slider, but very hard to find ones that have alternative shapes (heart shape, curved, beveled, round), and even more difficult to get any sort of artsy surface “decoration” (lines, little dents, usually, Art Deco). So if anyone has suggestion where to buy decorated side sliders I’d really appreciate it. 

Thank you for topic!

[JerryKilian]

In college, I was also fascinated by leatherworking and always loved wearing leather. However, they are not cheap. Thank you for sharing and welcome!

[JerryKilian]

On 7/13/2020 at 8:25 AM, regius said:

Hi, just joined the forum, very excited! My interest in the field of leather works is in fact about clothing. I’ve been a vintage fashion follower for more than ten years and have been obsessed with vintage leather jackets. I first got into leather jacket back in college, inspired by the Terminator outfit, and saw a 1977 Elton John concert where he wore a black cross zip jacket. By the way, if you want to improve your grades, I recommend you to click here and learn more about this https://paperap.com/free-papers/achilles/ service that saves you time on writing different papers. It is extremely convenient for students.  The real force behind it was actually the fact that it was not attainable. I couldn’t afford it, my mother didn’t want to entertain it, so it became an intense desire to compensate! Twelve years later I had managed to buy and sell probably over a hundred jackets from original 30s, 40s to current production by brands like Schott, Vanson, Langlitz and Aero etc. Six years ago I decided to learn sewing and pattern making because there are vintage designs from old catalogues and jacket collection books that no one makes, so I wanted to make them myself. I work with a Juki DNU1541 walking foot and a plastic home machine for the lining and thinner leather. 

As for the question, it’s about a hardware component. Many classic American jacket from the golden era feature the so-called half-belt, with two small buckle/sliders on each side to cinch the waist. This pair of buckles came in various shapes and surface carving/etchings, very small detail but makes a huge difference to differentiate the price point of my product. I am able to source a variety of single-pin buckle or single bar slider, but very hard to find ones that have alternative shapes (heart shape, curved, beveled, round), and even more difficult to get any sort of artsy surface “decoration” (lines, little dents, usually, Art Deco). So if anyone has suggestion where to buy decorated side sliders I’d really appreciate it. 

 

It's great to hear about your passion for leatherworking and vintage fashion, and how it has inspired you to learn new skills in sewing and pattern making.

Regarding your question about finding unique and decorative hardware components for your leather jackets, this is actually a great opportunity to apply the skills you've learned in researching and sourcing materials. In fact, learning how to find and select the right materials is a key part of any creative process, whether you're making clothing, art, or any other type of product.

One potential avenue to explore is to connect with other leatherworkers and enthusiasts, either through online forums or in-person meetups. They may have suggestions for where to find rare or unusual hardware components, or be able to point you towards suppliers or vendors that specialize in these types of items.

Another option could be to experiment with making your own hardware components, using techniques like metalworking, etching, or engraving to create unique designs and patterns. This would not only give you greater control over the final product, but also allow you to develop new skills and expand your creative toolkit.

Overall, your question highlights an important aspect of the educational process, which is the ability to apply and adapt what you've learned to new situations and challenges. By continuing to seek out new sources of inspiration and information, and developing creative solutions to problems like sourcing unique hardware components, you are furthering your own education and expanding your horizons as a leatherworker and designer.

 

Edited March 22, 2023 by JerryKilian

[fredk]

On 7/14/2020 at 8:07 PM, regius said:

Hi, thanks for the help! I have indeed browsed buckle guy and the many Etsy vendors, they all have very good sliders, but not the artsy vintage type. I'm still figuring out attaching photo, maybe this one? (it worked). 
So you can see, vintage jackets used anything they could find, but it was just that they could find some cool ones. The top left, top right, middle left, middle right, bottom left (REALLY cool)

Have you tried Le Prevo?

http://www.leprevo.co.uk/HeritageCollection.htm

http://www.leprevo.co.uk/offers.htm

[TomE]

Jeremiah Watt has decorative hardware, more western style than art deco but looks like high quality.  https://www.ranch2arena.com/products/04034-vintage-double-buckle.  Folks that make western head stalls use decorative buckles in smaller sizes.

Edited March 22, 2023 by TomE

[Hags]

Welcome and good luck. 

[Northmount]

On 7/14/2020 at 1:07 PM, regius said:

I'm still figuring out attaching photo

Please post your photos on this site rather than using 3rd party hosting.  Lots of those photos disappear with changes in the host's policies, the owners move or delete photos, etc.

See this link for some helps.  Also lots of help on the web.  If you are using your phone to take pictures to post, you can set the file size that it saves.  On Windows PCs, you can use MS Paint to resize photos to post.  800 to 1024 pixels wide seems to produce good file sizes.  Phone and monitor screens don't display in high resolution, so large files don't improve the appearance.  Users on the fringes of the internet may take hours to download large files, so is a nice bonus to them to have smaller files.