Restoration: 1963 Kansas City A's Jersey
Today we are going to take a deep dive into a full-on jersey restoration (25 photos). This 1963 Kansas City Athletics jersey is a treasure-- a relic for so many reasons. These startling-for-1963 gold jerseys were made of a fabric known as "Durene", a cotton-nylon blend that was decidedly not flannel. The jersey's owner, Steve S. of Hawaii, wanted the post-MLB numbers changed back to original, asked if I could fix the frayed and missing trim, and wanted the novel player nickname on back, "FISH" to be replaced.
The biggest challenge here is that you simply cannot replace old with new and have it look right. Doing so would be as jarring as repairing a blue car by putting a shiny red fender on it. The irony of proper restoration is, when you do it correctly, nobody notices. Do it wrong and it is obvious to everyone.
Jersey in hand at the Dream Shop, I took a deep breath... and began the process. There's a lot of detail here, but I want to show you all the steps of a job that took me about ten hours of work to complete. Follow along with the photos and I'll tell you the whole story.
Read MoreThe biggest challenge here is that you simply cannot replace old with new and have it look right. Doing so would be as jarring as repairing a blue car by putting a shiny red fender on it. The irony of proper restoration is, when you do it correctly, nobody notices. Do it wrong and it is obvious to everyone.
Jersey in hand at the Dream Shop, I took a deep breath... and began the process. There's a lot of detail here, but I want to show you all the steps of a job that took me about ten hours of work to complete. Follow along with the photos and I'll tell you the whole story.
