good points......that's exactly what I meant, and didn't word it quite right !! Smooth finished areas should be moisturized, where-ever you may find them in or on the purse. The rougher raw leather can benefit from doing it that way.You should condition any "smooth" sides of the leather, whether that's inside or outside of the bag. For example, the "smooth" section where the creed is stamped into. That's basically the smooth side of a sheet of leather, right? And so it should be conditioned, even though it's technically inside of the main bag. It's not a matter of 'inside' or 'outside'. Any smooth surfaces of leather should be moisturized, even on, or in, internal pockets/sub-divisions.
Well ... no ... not technically. At least not technically, in the way that's actually worded. You have to remember that there are also smooth surfaces of leather that are still *inside* the main bag. Like where the creed is stamped. Or the walls of some internal sub-divisions. So in that sense, you actually do moisturize "inside" the bag. You still moisturize any smooth sides of leather, even if they're inside the bag.
Yeah I know, it's a wording issue. Instead of talking about "inside" or "outside" of the bag, what we should be saying is: "moisturize any smooth surfaces, do not moisturize suede/unfinished surfaces, regardless of 'inside' or 'outside'." But I'm only pointing it out because you don't want to forget the internal sheets of leather/sub-dividers by mistake.
And now my head hurts from the semantics.
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Two 70s/80s made-in-NYC bags, going through baths, documentins pics, as was requested
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You should condition any "smooth" sides of the leather, whether that's inside or outside of the bag. For example, the "smooth" section where the creed is stamped into. That's basically the smooth side of a sheet of leather, right? And so it should be conditioned, even though it's technically inside of the main bag. It's not a matter of 'inside' or 'outside'. Any smooth surfaces of leather should be moisturized, even on, or in, internal pockets/sub-divisions.
Well ... no ... not technically. At least not technically, in the way that's actually worded. You have to remember that there are also smooth surfaces of leather that are still *inside* the main bag. Like where the creed is stamped. Or the walls of some internal sub-divisions. So in that sense, you actually do moisturize "inside" the bag. You still moisturize any smooth sides of leather, even if they happen to be inside the bag.
Yeah I know, it's a wording issue. Instead of talking about "inside" or "outside" of the bag, what we should be saying is: "moisturize any smooth surfaces, do not moisturize suede/unfinished surfaces, regardless of 'inside' or 'outside' the main bag." But I'm only pointing it out because you don't want to forget the internal sheets of leather/sub-dividers by mistake.
And now my head hurts from the semantics.
.
Wow! All good to learn. Thanks.
Here is an interesting one.... The strap along the seems almost seems sticky. Like the glue is coming off but not really.. ??
How would I re-seal that strap seem? It is the length of the whole strap.
Thanks again!
I am new to this forum and a new lover of COACH. I especially love the old leather bags. My friend and I want to restore a vintage breifcase for her husband for Christmas. We are are going to start with a $1.98 small tan bag just to practice. I am so glad I found this thread because of all of the detail. Thanks!
Do you think this could work on a two-toned purse? I have an old Dooney and Bourke purse that is mainly white with a brown bottom and brown trim with brown leather on the inside. My question is do you think the brown will bleed onto the white? The black dye turned your water black when you washed it, and I was thinking the brown might turn the white into a yellowish color..
Gosh....your hard work really paid off!! I just ordered some Apple conditioner for my vintage leather. thanks for the tutorial!Ok, well, I think I'm done.
Amen.
It's had another two days to "marinade in its own juices", with my "fondling" it in between to give the leather that extra little movement, and I think I'm happy with it.
It had, essentially, three conditionings, because if you'll recall I did the first two back to back, then waited two days and gave it a third layer of conditioning. Now we're two days after that, and I think I'm happy.
So today, I did *one more thing* ... I took a clean napkin and just gave it a gentle buffing/wipe-down to get off any last remaining conditioner. And I must say, the leather is reeeeeeally nice now. I love it ... thick, supple, rich, and the word that someone around tpf had once used for vintage Coach leather ... "chewy". I just love this leather.
Ok, so I'm attaching three pics to this post, and then in the next post, I just want to do one last comparison.
But for this post ...
First and second pics ... After that last gentle buffing/wipe-down with the napkin. I also re-attached both the strap and the hangtag. Also, I did tie a simple knot in the strap, just like the previous owner of my Brown Basic bag had done. (The double strap would have driven me up the wall, I could tell already.)
Third pic ... just my own preference ... I like black and purple, and attached a plum Coach script to one side, and a plum/lilac hangtag to the other. ... And I actually already did use the finished bag, this evening to take daughter to her kung fu classes.
I have a Dooney like that but I haven't washed it. You might check on the Dooney forum or post your question in the Rehab club. http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-clubhouse/coach-rehab-and-rescue-club-624452.html
wowzers!! great job! isn't it a wonderful feeling to clean something up and make it all purdy again! thanks for sharing!!
thanks for sharing!!
Thanks for the steps on how to rehab a bag!! This is really useful for first timer like me! Love how soft your leather looks! What a makeover!
Does this process work only o leather or can it be used with cloth bags? What about bags with suede trim?Continuing ...
First pic ... I also stuffed that inner pocket with a couple dry towels too.
Second pic ... Hanging to start drying. That black section in front is the inner pocket, stuffed and "flopped" out of the bag while it dries.
Conditions in the room .... We keep good ventilation in this room, via a large air filter about ten to fifteen feet away from where the bag is hanging. (We have the air cleaner since we have so many parrots ... gets the feather dust out of the air. And this is the main section of the house -- where living room meets dining room.)
So the bag is well ventilated, but the air is not blowing directly onto it.
That's where it's hanging now, about three hours after the bath. In another couple hours, I'll take those dry towels out, photograph them, and re-stuff the bag to hang overnight. (Oh, and that orange thing hanging above the bag is a paper windsock that daughter made in Bible School. Let's just ignore that, shall we?)
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This was all super helpful!! I have a question about the unfinished/suede side-in the process of moisturizing a finished side of my coach city bag, I got some leather conditioner on the suede side that's right next to it. Now I the suede side is a little "flatter" so to speak. Does anyone know what I should do to revive the unfinished side? Should I start all over with another bath to get conditioner out (even though I've already used a ton of conditioner on the finished surfaces!) ? Any help would be much appreciated!!
Hi! Welcome to TPF! This is the best thread to get advice from experts about rehabbing Coach bags: http://forum.purseblog.com/coach-clubhouse/coach-rehab-and-rescue-club-833400.html