Black Makeup Bag

I am using Feibings leather stain to repair the missing color on the outside of this makeup bag without damaging the cute blue and white mattress ticking style lining.

Piping repair

This is a Coach New York City Kisslock tote. She came to me with worn through piping on all four lower corners. She is in amazing shape otherwise. I am repairing the worn through piping with 5 minute epoxy to stabilize and strengthen the leather, using it to fill in the areas where the leather is missing. This will then be covered with a matching acrylic paint to blend in the repairs. I used my finger to dull the surface of the epoxy during the drying process so it would not be shiny.

Coach Godiva Chocolate

We were at the mall on Saturday, and we went to Coach. On the way out we stopped by Godiva, and my husband pointed at the case and said "look honey, Coach signature lining chocolates". Oh boy... I know I have now involved him a little too much!!!

The Family

My entire Coach Collection so far minus a Madison Deaville that hasn't arrived yet and minus a Stewardess in British Tan that is at Coach for repairs:

Dooney and Bourke experiment

Here is a bag with corner damage on the bottom, I used three different moisturizers to see what might work best

Coach of the Day

I just got this one yesterday and I actually gave it a bath and moisturized it with extra virgin olive oil, I put one of my brass tags on temporarily, and I just love her!! She is a Coach Madison collection Carlyle made in Italy.

Coach of the Day

Briefcase rehab complete

Coach of the Day

Today I am wearing a Coach Everett vintage bag with an Under the Sea Mix key fob in gold... this bag got a bath, but that was the extent of the rehabilitation performed on her! This is an older bag with "Made in the United States" under the creed, and a serial number that does not include the style number. 

Remove pink Chapstick from white shirt

So, I opened the dryer today to find that my husband had left a tube of cherry Chapstick in his really nice Cubavera shirt. This was after he brought me the shirt this morning to ask if I could please wash it so he could wear it today. We both thought the shirt was ruined when we opened the dryer to find a pink spotted mess of a shirt. Well, I tried bleach, and that did not work. I tried alcohol, that did not work. I told my husband to go the store and get a Dryel pack, because I know the dry cleaning fluid in there will remove almost anything. As soon as he had closed the door I went and tried hotel bar soap. Hotel bar soap and a little scrubbing removed the chapstick like magic!!!

Suede Brush

Coach Wallet Rehab

So, I got this wallet today and decided to rehab it as an example for someone else with the same wallet. First I shined the brass as much as possible. Then I removed the tag and shined the tag chain. I then dunked the whole thing in a sink full of soapy water with Ivory soap. Then I rinsed the wallet under clear warm water. Then I put the wallet on a clean towel to dry. When it was mostly dry (and this wallet dried super fast) I closed it up so it would dry in the correct shape. Then I finished shining the brass and rubbed on a little moisturizer.

Dooney and Bourke rehab

This is my first attempt at a Dooney and Bourke rehab. I normally rehab Coach bags, so I thought maybe if I just give this beauty a bath the way I normally do my Coach bags, it would be just fine. Well, my first attempt did not work out so great. I dunked her and bathed her and left her to dry, only to see that on the bottom where the water had not evenly permeated the leather, along with on the zipper pull inside, and on the leather on the top of the removable interior pockets, there were now very ugly brown water marks. I am not one to give up, and I like this bag a little too much to not be successfu, so I decided to try again. Thsi time I pulled the bottom out of the bag. From the top the bottom looked like leather, but when I pulled on it, the glue had pretty much melted from the moisture, and the bottom actually consists of a layer of cardboard bolted in by the feet. On top of that layer of cardboard is another layer of cardbaord glued to the first layer, and on top of that is a layer of leather glued in rough side up to match the interior of the rest of the bag. 

First attempt at dunking the bag.

The leather bottom from the inside of the bag, note that the water did not permeate it evenly. I had to soak it to get the water to finally permate it evenly so it would then dry evenly.

The bottom of the bag, half wet... every place where dry meets wet is going to dry with brown water lines, and the water is not penetrating the dry areas easily. It took a long time to soak it long enough to finally get the leather evenly saturated. 

Water inside the bag, being left to really soak in.

The bottom of the bag after about half an hour of soaking, finally the water has permeated the leather, and with any luck it should now dry with no water marks. 

The next morning, after about twelve hours of drying. I placed two large Yankee Candle jars inside the bag and placed the bag on a hard surface during the drying process, and when the cardboard started to get funny in between where the jars were sitting, I took one out and moved the other to the center of the bag to further flatten the cardboard during the drying process. The cardboard is completely laminated, so it did not get as wet as I thought it would during this process. 

The bottom of the bag, now drying evenly after being evenly saturated. The first time I thought it was ruined because it had water marks all the way around it. 

The inside of the bag reveals that the bottom of the bag is still not completely dry. It is probably going to take another few hours. And also please keep in mind that I live in Arizona, it is seriously dry here, so things dry fast, sometimes too fast. If you try this in a climate that is not as dry this process is going to take a lot longer.