Repair rip in leather armchair

Jun 14, 2013 5 Replies

I need to repair a six inch jagged rip in the arm rest of a leather sofa. I think it must have resulted from someone pressing too hard on it as its just where a persons elbow would rest. Could anybody recommend the best way to go about this?



I've googled some repair kits which seem to sell for about 20 but are they any good?



I would like the repair to be as invisible as possible.


I bought a repair kit off Ebay to fix a split on my car seat. Basically, you glue a patch of material to the back of the leather - you can poke it through from the front using sort of cocktail sticks - then fill the crack left with a filler, and then dye to match (everything needed in the kit). Made a very tolerable job. I did a second split on the passenger seat by stripping it down so I could get to the back of the leather - usually possible with car seats but dunno about furniture - and got a near invisible repair which I'm very pleased with. I'll re-do the first one when I get some tuits.

You could try invisible mend .. a white powder, as other poster said put a piece of backing materiel behind hole sprinkle this powder in as even as you can onto that material then you apply an iron ... it melts the powder to a clear glue .... tear edges all meet OK repair is OK ..

Problem would be if if ripped by elbow pressure, it may go again.

Any haberdashery would sell invisible mend for a couple of pound. round tube about 1" diam around 4" long the stuff I bought

talk about pointy elbows!!

Jim K

The glue supplied with my kit *seemed* to be ordinary white PVA wood glue. No need for a hot iron. Which I'd be worried might mark the surrounding leather. The snag is you need to hold the split closed as much as possible while the glue dries. Not so easy if it's stretched over foam or whatever. Which is why I dismantled the other seat to do the same sort of repair.

I'd be tempted to patch both arms in the same place so it looks like part of the design. Brian

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