Wow, thanks! Never even knew that was a thing. Having a quick Google, other sites suggested the hairdryer trick, but said that it will reappear. Did you find that it came back on the surface of your bag?
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
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not so far...I used the hairdryer trick first then dunk in warm water.
That has worked a treat, thank you so much! I dont have time to bath and dry the bag again at the minute, but if it comes back I'll hairdryer it and dunk it again. The leather looks and feels so much better after just using the hairdryer on it!
I've never used fabric softener on bags. Dunking in soapy water is often enough. Then you can add vinegar to the rinse water. The vinegar smell goes away after a little while.
It might help. I wouldn't use fabric softener, I would use gentle dish soap like Dawn and soak in lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes then another soak for 10-15 minutes in lukewarm water with 1-2 cups of white distilled vinegar. Make sure you have a good conditioner like Leather CPR on hand before you soak the bag. You will need to condition the bag several times over several days while its drying.
Sometimes just airing out a bag will help too. You can hang it in a shady spot outside for a couple of days and see if that helps. I like to dunk my bags though, I like to really clean pre-loved purses.
Has anyone seen a red lunch box in good shape in person? I am trying to figure out what the color the edges should be. Some lingering paint looked like the bright red the bag started as Before darkening, but the rest looks like it might have been dark brown or something. I think I will try to match it to the bag’s current Darkened color, but if it shouldn’t be red,I want to keep it close to what it should be.
Thanks! I used Dawn and some fabric softener, it helped with the smell. Now it’s drying. How long should I wait to start conditioning ? Do you condition when they are still quite wet?
I usually wait 24 to 36 hours after washing to condition. Depends on how dry the bag feels. The lunch box I am working on had parts so dry 10 hours later I spot conditioned before going to bed, did the whole bag the next morning and again that night. For the first 3 days, it got spot conditioned in the morning And whole bag at night. It is now down to once a day. In comparison, another bag was washed at 10 a.m. one day and not conditioned until 7 p.m. the next night And was still fairly wet. It only needed 1 conditioning per day.
I usually wait about 12 hours, give or take, before applying the first coat of conditioner. Check on your bag and look for areas that are drying faster, like straps or thin flaps, etc. Some spots might need conditioning before others.
Thank you both! You’ve been very helpful.
They have caught wind of my rehabbing capabilities at work, so when one of my favorite coworkers asked me to find her a bag I accepted the challenge. One little problem was that she wanted a lighter, bigger, with a bunch of pockets. So I knew a willis was a strong contender but finding a cheap one in a light color was tough. Found a really sad sac Dominican willis, in some sort of fawn color from 02 on ebay for $40! Bingo! Cleaned up pretty well, still a little scratched but its a hell of a lot cleaner.
That's gorgeous, nice job! I have a camel willis from Costa Rica that looks a lot like this bag, but mine has nickel hardware and your bag looks like brass hardware; did the camel willis ever come with brass hardware?
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
I've never heard of the curly girl method. I've always hated my curly hair. The curls never go the right direction. I stopped using shampoo over a year ago because my hair is dry. I didn't realize that was a good thing to do for curly hair. Most of the time I like to straighten it but I only...
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