More than once, we have set a grommet or rivet and completely botched it. Or mid way through we decided that we should have used a different color. A few weeks ago we had a customer who had a rivet come out of her jacket and asked us if we could fix it. So, perfect time to share.
What you need:
Tin snips/ wire cutters
Needle nose pliers
With this piece, the rivet had come out of the fabric but was still secure in the leather tab.
Gently take your tin snips and make some cuts in the washer. Then, take your pliers and carefully start rolling(I twist my pliers carefully around the grommet/rivet) the washer out. Take care to not cut into your fabric as the edges will be sharp. It may come off in several pieces, which is ok.
Once the back is off, you should be able pull the front (grommet/rivet) straight out of the fabric. Then you are all set to replace your grommet or rivet.
Side note: Due to the fact that the rivet came out of the fabric, when replacing it we have to reinforce the area on the inside. Using something that won’t fray is best. We had some extra leather scraps around so we just cut out a little circle for the reinforcer.
