I use Wenol. I don't have much of a problem with white residue. Sometimes some of it gets on the leather but it wipes away. I also use vinegar a lot. I'll put the chains and the strap clips in a vinegar bath. Then I'll use an electric toothbrush on them. I also use the toothbrush and vinegar on the zippers. With Wenol, I usually use fine steel wool. I can't say I get dramatically better results with Wenol than vinegar.
Coach Rehab and Rescue Club
- Thread starter greenpixie
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I'm a little late to the party, but thought I'd chime in on this one. Most of the Madison's have a sandwich of thin foam and chipboard or paperboard/pressboard in them where they wanted them to be stiff. On the Carlyle it's in the flap. If you dunk them and the board gets wet, it will warp (think of what happens to a cereal box when it gets wet). There's no way to get it completely flat again. You can flatten the areas with something heavy while drying to get some of the warping out, but then you risk leaving impressions in the leather, and the "sandwich" sections will take much longer to dry, so you run the risk of mold/mildew.
As for the wrinkles, once the Madison leather is wrinkled like yours is, there's not a lot you can do to fix it. The fibers in the leather have been creased, so it's like a piece of paper that's been folded. You can smooth it out somewhat, but you'll never totally get rid of the crease marks, and the purse will tend to wrinkle there again. I had a Carlyle that I steamed, a while back. It helped get rid of some indentations in the flap, but the wrinkles on the side sections are still there. I just consider them added character - like my wrinkles, lol!
In conclusion, I don't recommend a dunk for most of the Madisons, but that's my opinion only, and you know what they say about opinions.....
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A bit late to thank you for your input. I have not done anything yet. If I dunk it, I might try to do the bottom only, so the flap is not affected. If I achieve any improvement I will share the results.
Thanks Whateve! I will likely order the Wenol and give it a try. I haven't had much luck with vinegar, probably because it requires too much elbow grease. I'm sure we have an old electric toothbrush around here, which would probably be helpful when I'm cleaning the brass while the bag is in the bath.
You're welcome! I've decided I don't need a Dremel. I've been doing a lot less rehabbing of late. I'm trying to clean out my rehab pile. I don't like staring at my failures!
I really appreciate your insight. I would have never thought to buy two and mix them, but it makes perfect sense to do this. Thanks for the tip about buying the black, too!
This will probably only help if you have a bag with the same leather to compare it to but cream and white mixed half and half was a perfect match for my white 65th anniversary Ali.
A bit late to thank you for your input. I have not done anything yet. If I dunk it, I might try to do the bottom only, so the flap is not affected. If I achieve any improvement I will share the results.
I'm on my phone so I can't search but did you see katev's thread about dunking her msdisons? It might have helpful tips if you go that route.
Hello fellow re-habbers, thoughts please on whether you think this bag can be saved? He used Rit dye on it (the horror!)
I'm dying (no pun intended) for one of these bags but the fact that he used Rit dye and "some of it rubs off at times but not very much" is pretty much a turn-off for me.
Why do people do this to bags?!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/236627388/coach-ultra-rare-nyc-usa-xl-bucket-bag?ref=shop_home_active_3
I'm dying (no pun intended) for one of these bags but the fact that he used Rit dye and "some of it rubs off at times but not very much" is pretty much a turn-off for me.
Why do people do this to bags?!
https://www.etsy.com/listing/236627388/coach-ultra-rare-nyc-usa-xl-bucket-bag?ref=shop_home_active_3
Sounds like another one for "the crazy #%^* that men do" list. I wouldn't want to try rehabbing that; he could have distressed it with sand paper, beating it with chains, scraping it on cement, who knows what, that could leave permanent, irreparable damage to the leather. And washing out the horror show of a dye job could be a real headache; it may be difficult to even get the color even, let alone get back the original color. And leaveing it as- is and having it rub off on clothes? No thank you, that's not for me.
What is the style number of the bag you're looking for? Maybe someone could let you know if they find one in better condition; there's a lot of vintage hunters in this thread.
Gosh you made me laugh!!!!! So true though.....the bag I'm looking for is actually pre style numbers but is the large leather bucket/duffle style bag with a zipper closure. Pretty iconic as far as early Coach goes but I think it would be awesome to own one.
I appreciate the help, it's hard sometimes searching for the vintage Coach bags because as you know not everyone knows the proper terms to describe their bag so you never know....it can take a lot of looking!
Upon further research I guess it would be the style 9085....the large duffle bag.
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I have used RIT dye on vintage bags with good results. I've used it when I just wanted to refresh the color or make it more even for faded bags. It has never rubbed off. What he did to this bag just looks terrible. It looks like some of the original texture of the bag is gone as well.
What you want is a duffle sac. Any made before 2003 are probably going to have really nice leather. They are fairly heavy and tend to be a black hole.
Thanks for clarifying that whateve.....not sure I want a "black hole" of a bag but I'm sure you're spot on!
It would be nice to know what that bag looked like before he got ahold of it though.....perhaps I need to look for a smaller version.
If you've never tried one on in person, you are taking a big risk. It looks absolutely ridiculous on me. The base is circular, meaning that when you carry it the bag is going to stick out from your body about a foot. It is slightly funnel shaped so you won't be able to get to the things on the bottom of the bag without taking things out. It is huge - if you don't carry a lot, you probably don't need a bag this big. You can get some idea of how big it is by looking at the pictures on Coach.com, keeping in mind that the model is very tall: http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-clubhouse/coach-rehab-and-rescue-club-833400.html
What you might want to look at is Helen's Legacy 9953. They didn't start making them until 1994 so they will have the style number in the creed. They are bigger than the current mini duffles. They made them in some nice colors.
Thank you whateve, I think you're right, a smaller bag is what I need instead of a ginormous one.
I love the silhouette of the 9953 so will search for one of those instead.