RENOVATING VANITY BAGS

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 116, 6 August 1927, Page 20

RENOVATING VANITY BAGS

The capacious leather handbags we are carrying nowadays soon show signs of soiling and wear if they '“arc in constant use, and must be cleaned and brightened up again at intervals. A perfectly clean piece of ink eraser rubbed lightly over suede or fancy leather soon restores it. For. stains caused by grease, refined, benzine is the best cleanser. After the marks have been removed with a little wad of cotton-wool or flannel soaked in the benzine, emery, cloth or fine sandpaper applied to the spot will bring up the pile on suede again, but such treatment should not, of course, be accorded to smooth skin. Changing the Colour It is quite easy to stain a pale-toned leather which has faded or soils too quickly. Spirit stain, specially prepared for the purpose, is obtainable in the form of powder, which is dissolvable in methylated spirit.

The method to follow is first to clean the surface to be treated thoroughly with benzine, then damp it all over, and apply a solution of stain as evenly as possible with a wad of cotton-wool. Since methylated spirit dries almost at once, care must be taken that a streaky, patchy effect does not result. If the solution is made rather lighter than required, repeated coats of colour make it easier to spread it even. If the result is slightly mottled, however, this is not a displeasing effect. When dry, polish the surface with flannel, a new shoe “rubber,”, or the palm of the hand. The natural grease in the latter, added to friction, is excellent for soft leathers. The stain is also very useful for touching up edges and worn patches where the original colour has rubbed away.