Christmas Rehab Gift Extravaganza! Nine Bags Given Away!

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#31
That is one heckuva reveal, my friend! I'll bet these gifts were truly loved by all who received them. You made these all look as good as new. The work and caring you put into these is very impressive. The Soho and pebble drawstring bag rehabs really caught my eye, though all are fantastically awesome!

Happy New Year and well wishes to you and yours!
 
#33
proffashionista said:
That is one heckuva reveal, my friend! I'll bet these gifts were truly loved by all who received them. You made these all look as good as new. The work and caring you put into these is very impressive. The Soho and pebble drawstring bag rehabs really caught my eye, though all are fantastically awesome!

Happy New Year and well wishes to you and yours!
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Thanks! I selected the Soho Flap and the Sonoma Drawstring for my youngest relations, my nieces in college and high school, because those bags seem like more "modern designs" and I figured they would appreciate them more than the older-looking classic bags. And they are both lined bags and that makes them a little more current, too. Everyone seemed pretty happy with their refurbished bags so I am glad that I had a chance to share my finds with family and friends!
 
#34
teerash said:
I should have taken some, but I didn't! It wasn't in too bad of shape, but the outer slip pocket needed to be repaired because the lining was separated from the seam a little. Also, one of the straps was very weak where it was sewn to the bag. It is kind of hard to explain, but both repairs I did myself with some vinyl glue. Then I just polished the hardware and conditioned the leather and it was good to go!
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Sounds great, I am sure she will love the bag, especially since you restored it to beauty and usefulness!
 
#35
Ms.MelissaD said:
Good job great gifts also!
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giagnm said:
Beautiful rehabs, your friends and relatives are so lucky!
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cheapskate said:
That's an awesome gift and your rehabs are topnotch, as usual.
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No Cute said:
What fun gifts for all of you! You are really awesome at the rehab!
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Thank you! I tried to select nice, useful bags that were in good shape to use as gifts. It is not always possible to restore bags as well as I would like, and I usually don't mind minor flaws when I am carrying the bag myself; but when I am giving a bag to someone else I try and make sure that it is as close to new as I can make it.
 
#37
Wow! These are fab, as usual katev, and such thoughtful gifts! I'm not surprised everyone was excited to get their prezzies!

What was your trick with the soho (and the drawstring) - I'm used to you making bags look great, but the soho looked like a lost cause...
 
#39
katev said:
Thanks! I selected the Soho Flap and the Sonoma Drawstring for my youngest relations, my nieces in college and high school, because those bags seem like more "modern designs" and I figured they would appreciate them more than the older-looking classic bags. And they are both lined bags and that makes them a little more current, too. Everyone seemed pretty happy with their refurbished bags so I am glad that I had a chance to share my finds with family and friends!
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They probably would have been happy with any of them. Vintage is back in now, and if they are anything like my sister and I (Both of us are in post secondary), they would have loved any of them regardless. A lot of stores are selling distressed bags to make them look old and worn and they cost more than my actual vintage finds LOL!
 
#42
ladyash said:
They probably would have been happy with any of them. Vintage is back in now, and if they are anything like my sister and I (Both of us are in post secondary), they would have loved any of them regardless. A lot of stores are selling distressed bags to make them look old and worn and they cost more than my actual vintage finds LOL!
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I didn't know that, thanks!
 
#43
irr_actor said:
Wow! These are fab, as usual katev, and such thoughtful gifts! I'm not surprised everyone was excited to get their prezzies!

What was your trick with the soho (and the drawstring) - I'm used to you making bags look great, but the soho looked like a lost cause...
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Thanks! I actually put the drawstring bag through the automatic washer! I had revealed the rehab of that bag previously and there is more info and pics at the link below. It didn't come out perfect - light colored, pebbled leather bags are a big challenge, but it came out well and I was happy with the results (and my niece really seemed to like it!)
http://forum.purseblog.com/coach/a-nice-rehab-project-but-still-bit-flawed-703093.html

The outside of the Soho was filthy and the lining was really dirty at the bottom of the bag. The wear on the outside corners was the biggest problem (see the before pic below). I gave the bag a bath in the sink and pulled the lining out as far as I could and scrubbed it and it really cleaned up well.

Then I let the bag dry and used many applications of conditioner, including Black Rocks. That darkened the leather and evened out the color quite a bit, but the corners are still a little lighter than the rest the bag - but it doesn't look bad. I told my niece to use a good quality conditioner on it periodically because I am sure that the corners will fade again when the leather starts to dry out. There's another after pic below also and you can see on the left side that the corners are still a bit faded.

Before:
SohoLeatherFlapBrown011.jpg


After:
SohoFlapBrwAfter002.jpg
 
#44
MarneeB said:
They all look great! You are so thoughtful to give them as gifts, I"m sure they were thrilled to receive a rehabbed bag!
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Crazy for Bags said:
You do an absolute FANTASTIC job!!!!! The bags look absolutely fabulous after you have rehab them, it's amazing!
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Thank you so much! I really hope everyone enjoys them but I am afraid that I am out of the closet now, everybody knows that I love bags!
 
#45
These are beautiful and I am sure everyone was happy to receive them. What amazes me the most is how you get them back into the correct shape after they have been stretched out and squished. Do you have to get them wet to do this?
I have to admit that I have been looking at vintage bags lately and thinking about rehab after seeing the miracles that you perform.
 
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