restore to save more: how to dye leather

Those of you who found my blog on the ever-awesome YLF forum (the site that single-handedly restored my faith in kind, supportive women) have already heard heaps on my love affair with leather dye, but I wanted to consolidate all my dye posts into a single how-to before I forget all about them and they fall off the edge of the interweb.

Dyeing for the Perfect Color
My problem this past Fall: I needed to replace my dark brown boots, but I couldn't find anything to fit my calves. One pair came close, but the leather was so soft, the shafts puddled around my ankles. The solution: a damaged pair of Sam Edelman boots at the swap meet (they were these, but damaged on the OTK part). Wrong color, wrong style, but the calf fit like a second skin, and the price was right. Cheap boots + brown dye = experiment time! It might sound scary to some but I prefer to take matters into my own hands, rather than wait for the winds of fate to blow new boots my way.

I chopped off the damaged top of the boots to get them down to the height I liked best, and I reattached the buckle detail where I liked it. Then it was time to bust out Tarrago's self shine leather dye kit in dark brown.

• Step one: Scrub with preparer fluid (provided) to make sure the leather will accept the dye.
• Step two: Use paint brush (provided) to paint dye into seams, crevices, and anywhere else hard to reach with a sponge.
• Step three: Use sponge (provided) to apply dye to boots. Use a circular motion, and don't let the dye glob up - spread it out nice and thin so that the leather can absorb it. Let coats dry.
• Step four: Check out your dye job in various types of light to see if there is a nice, even color. Repeat step three as needed.

You can also use masking tape to protect hardware or other elements that you don't want dyed, but I am pretty steady with a brush (and impatient), so I skipped that part. Didn't matter in the least for me. It seriously was THAT easy. I didn't make a mess, didn't run into any problems.

Dyeing to Erase Damage
Where I undertook the above boot project to satisfy my impatient nit-picky-ness, I decided to dye this bag in order to restore its stained, dirty leather. Dying the bag was a tiny bit harder than dying the boots, simply because there were more design elements to work around: buckles, straps, folds, zippers. However, it was still super easy -- I made it a point to put in as little effort as possible -- and it still turned out really well. I even managed to spilled the preparer fluid all over the bag... Oops. It didn't matter at all. :)
Shortcuts: This time around, I did not paint every single seam (as per the instructions) before using the sponge. I used the sponge from the get-go, and just tried to make sure I got every nook and cranny. This saved a lot of time, because you have to sponge over the brush strokes anyway, in order to prevent glooping and keep a nice, even color.


Hardware Hardships: I make the decision not to tape over much of the hardware, and I also gave dying the zipper fabric a shot. A bit of dye leaked through the zipper fabric, so if you want to preserve your lining *and* dye your zipper, then you should tape off the edges of your lining first. I painted over much of the hardware, then tried to remove it with acetone -- this was a problem, as it was impossible to avoid touching acetone to the leather, and it caused color loss. I ended up rubbing the dye off with tissue, and it came off easily without damaging the leather -- MUCH better.


Leather Love: the leather does NOT feel stiff, and the slouch/movement of the bag was not affected. It's an floppy, unstructured bag, and its movement feels the same as before dying. I would say that if you are dying distressed leather, none of the distressing will carry through. It may seem obvious, but the dye definitely makes the leather look brand new... so don't dye if you need to preserve a super matte/sueded/nubuck type look.


Well, there you have it! Whether you give a so-so item that extra oomph or pull a truly busted item back from the brink of your donation pile, leather dye is your friend. From now on, I will always look past the current condition of a leather item and consider what its condition could be after a quick coat of dye.

How to Shop: Goodwill Outlets

Be thee fairly warned: thrifting has never been for the faint of heart, but a Goodwill Outlet could still give you a coronary if you aren't prepared. For serious.

Few and far between, these establishments are basically where unsold merchandise gets one final go at being re-homed. There are no racks. There are no hangers. There are no "departments." There are no price tags or bathrooms or dressing rooms or mirrors. What they do have is giant bin after giant bin of unsorted, unwashed, pre-owned miscellany priced to sell by the pound. It's not a place where everyone would choose to shop -- and that's precisely the point. The crux of the matter is that Goodwill Outlets allow adventurous and industrious bargain hunters to trade in petty amenities for the one thing that matters most (at least on this blog): a better bottom line.

How it works:
1) Visually assess intimidating mound of clothes/shoes/whoknowswhat.
2) Snatch up anything that looks cute, and throw it in your shopping cart.
3) Grab an armload of stuff and shift it to the side, so that you uncover more stuff.
4) Repeat steps 1-3 until your arm/patience/nose gives out.
5) Assess stuff in cart for wearability/quality/fit/weight.
6) Haggle and pay.

A few tips for mitigating the peril:

1) Dress to dig.
The Goodwill Outlet browsing process is something akin to an archeological dig, and you should dress accordingly. Hands-free bags, ponytail holders, short or roll-up-able sleeves, and easy-moving fabrics are a plus.

2) Know your clothes.
This process goes a lot faster if you are the type of person can spot her go-to brand of shoes from across the room or recognize cashmere by touch. Get familiar with the look and feel of the things you love, and finding more things you love will get to be second nature. I only spent about ten minutes at the outlet this time around, and I left with one of my favorite brands of jeans for $2.50 and perfectly fitting leather boots for $4.

3) Figure out some fit cheats.
There are no dressing rooms or mirrors in the outlet, so you have to find other ways to tell if a garment will fit you the way you want it to. For example, I know that I like my jeans rise to go no higher than my hip bones, so I throw shame to the wind and line up the crotch seams of prospective jeans to the jeans I'm currently in to see how high the rise goes. I also know that I like my tops to define the area under my bust, so I usually lay tops over my chest and make sure the side seams wrap around my torso no farther than my armpits.

4) Don't be shy!
There is a chance that your outlet location will be filled with lots of other bargain hunters so eager to find their own deals that they will physically jostle you out of the way. Don't let yourself be run over! Put your head down and jostle them right back. And if the cashier quotes a price that seems too high for you, make a counter-offer. These leather boots were originally quoted at $5 but, because the soles are cracking a bit (an easy enough fix for me, but a significant shoe flaw nonetheless), the cashier let me have them for $4 -- Don't laugh! That dollar I saved could turn into an awesome swap meet purchase later!

5) Have fun!
You might not end up coming home with anything, so don't put pressure on yourself to find a diamond in the rough every time. Enjoy the thrill of the hunt, and quit when the thrill is gone. There are always more stores to browse, and new items are always arriving. :)

Funding the Splurge

Remember this bag? Its original retail cost was $108, but I only paid about $10 total. No, it wasn't used -- and no, it didn't "fall off a truck" somewhere downtown.

I initially spotted the bag at my local Marshall's discount store. I loved the bright yellow color, the laser-cut daisies, the functional pockets and key clip inside, and the way it looked with my outfit at the time (cut off jeans shorts, black tights and combat boots, and a tan cardigan). I was smitten, and full ready to buy myself an inexpensive pleather treat. Then I checked out the price tag: 75 clams! For PU! When I'd probably catch one of those poor, delicate flowers on something and destroy the bag within a month! I regretfully put the bag down and left empty-handed.

Cut to a week later, and I was rabid to find this bag again. I could suddenly picture a million different outfits that desperately needed a shock of yellow, and I sure as heck could not find anything I liked as much in real leather. So I trekked back to Marshalls - the bag was gone. I trekked to yet another Marshalls -- and another -- and three more TJ Maxx locations -- only to yield the same results (cue pathetic fallacy).

I eventually found the bag on the Jessica Simpson site but, as you see above, retail was over $100, and that didn't include shipping. I still wanted the bag, but I just couldn't justify the extra cost. I had to get creative.

Now honestly, I've lusted after stuff I couldn't afford long before this, so I already had a plan in place:

1) Find a better offer: $108 was the original retail price, yes, but there's always a discount to be had. In this case, the discount wasn't much - I ultimately paid $82.59 on Amazon, but 25 bucks is 25 bucks. Ebay is also a treasure trove of deals waiting to be had.

2) Chip away the cost with coupons: Although it didn't apply in regards to my yellow bag, I can often find coupons that waive shipping or reduce the cost of my desired items even further. A quick Google search is all it takes to save a cool $10 on shipping!

3) Liquidate assets: I've worked at hedge funds and brokerage firms (at a very low level, but still!), so I know that, when wealthier people want to make large purchases, they have other options besides busting out a credit card and generating debt -- and one of those options is to liquidate assets. I didn't have extra money set aside for frivolous purchases, nor did I have any income-generating investments. I did, however, have a pile of ill-fitting clothes ripe for Ebay selling.

Ever since I was a starving, unemployed college student, I've bought most all my clothes at the swap meet for $1. At the time, I averaged an Ebay sale price of about $10 (it's less now). This left me something like $8 in profit per item sold after fees. Thus, I was able to raise the 80-odd bucks I needed for the bag by selling $10 worth of clothes.

If you don't have a surplus of used clothes lazing about, chances are you have other stuff you aren't using - that 4"-screen netbook you haven't looked at since the iPad came out, the old Razr flip phone you were saving for "emergencies," random garage kitsch. You might not value this stuff anymore, but that doesn't mean it lacks monetary value. You can sell things on Ebay/Craigslist/Etsy/Bonanza or, if you dislike selling through the internet, you can hold garage sales or resell items to friends and acquaintances.

Other such success stories:

B. Makowsky Rebel crossbody bag (mine is black) - original retail $154 - net damage $12
Cole Haan Hooded Travel Jacket- original retail apparently around $300 (similar) - net damage $10


Michael Kors Lead Me On boots - original retail $169 - net damage $-10 (sold thrashed, gifted Frye boots for $10 more than these cost on sale).


As you can see, I don't like to deny myself much of anything. If I love something, I'll find a way to make it mine, even if it means giving up something else -- and dude, if I'm not willing to give up something else for a new purchase, then I probably don't want it that much, right? On that note, I hope I've helped give you another excuse to shop... and one idea about how to shop without breaking the bank.

Sincerely,
Your Friendly Neighborhood Enabler :)