Late last year, I found myself developing a penchant for quirky, non-designer bags. It started with a random Moulinette Soeurs tote I spotted (and impulse bought) on eBay one day…
… and turned into an incipient trend when I thrifted this Orla Kiely cross-body:
I also thrifted and gifted a Fossil Keyper tote, which I was sorely tempted to keep for myself. I am not exactly sure what is behind this new attraction, but it may have something to do with the fact that I am increasingly eschewing prints in my outfits; my love of patterns and colours is probably looking for another outlet. It helps that these bags come at a much lower price point, making them a much lower stakes commitment. I am getting a bit bored with my (much worn, much loved) designer bags, but I haven’t found a new one that sparks true “bag lust”; probably for the better, my wallet would say.
Emboldened by the success of my wool blazer-rehabbing project, I have also been keeping an eye out at thrift stores for another opportunity to expand my skills. All of which is to say – when I spotted this rather disheveled Miss Albright bag at VV, I decided it was perfect.
A quirky bag, needing a lot of TLC. Sign me up!
The bag came to about $6 after 30% off coupon; VV refused to give me a condition discount, which was annoying considering that the bag was, effectively, worthless at that point. [Note: I didn’t ask for anything in particular, and would have accepted even $1 off, merely as a gesture. VV customer services sucks.] Surely not that bad, you’re thinking? Well, the stitching on one of the handles was coming apart, the embroidery was faded, the inside and outside had seen better (cleaner) days. Oh, and did I mention the giant rip in the back?
To be honest, I wasn’t sure I would be able to rescue this bag; certainly, I knew there was no chance I could restore it to its original condition, or anything close. But I thought I could clean it up a bit, and I had an idea for fixing the rip and … well, I took a chance. Here’s what I did.
First, I gave it a bath. I learned from my Smythe blazer experiment that the leather trim would not be damaged by a little dunking, so I immersed the bag in a lukewarm bath with a bit of baby shampoo. After soaking it for about half an hour, and took an old toothbrush and gently scrubbed some of the dirtier bits of the fabric, inside and out.
I rinsed the bag in lukewarm water, then patted it with towels to dry off excess moisture and left it to dry (flat).
After it was dry, I tackled the handle first. I don’t have leather tools, but luckily I had a bigger needle that worked fine. The result wasn’t exactly artisan-level, but I managed to get the handle re-stitched enough that its “innards” aren’t spilling out anymore.
Next, I worked on the embroidery. I was actually going to leave this alone – and embrace the “vintage” feel of the bag – but then I was Googling and discovered fabric pens. I Amazon Prime-d some over (~$16, and the kids can re-use them as regular markers), and had a go at refreshing the colour.
The result is okay but the fabric markers were kinda garbage, in my opinion. Maybe my expectations were too high; I don’t know. I found them prone to bleeding/transfer (all over my hands) and the colours were only so-so. If your in the market for some fabric pens, I would look around for a better-reviewed brand.
Lastly, I worked on the rip. First, I sewed it shut. My stitching looked rough, but I didn’t care because, as you will see, I had a plan to cover it all up.
I knew that I had no way of replicating the embroidery on the bag, and any remotely similar patch I might be able to find would look to shiny and new next to the faded original. So I decided to go the opposite route; rather than match, I went with something that totally … didn’t. If you’re wondering, yes, I was inspired by the Japanese art of visible mending.
Over the years, one of my hobbies has been beading. I have a bazillion projects, of varying sizes and in varying degrees of completion, stashed away in a box, waiting for a purpose. I dug through the box, and found a small “patch” that was about the right size and slapped it over the rip “scar”. Like so:
And that was it! Cleaned up and rehabbed, my bag looked like this:
I love this! It’s really amazing how you made this bag so much more unique and you.
Thanks! I’ve become a little bit obsessed with visible mending, and I’m starting to look into embroidery. It seems a little bit daunting, though. But I love playing with colour, and I am dreaming of all the cute floral designs I could be making …
How did you even get into these crafty hobbies? Is it something you’ve always done and been good at? I like doing things with my hands but I don’t even know how to start with it – what is a good craft for a beginner? how do you learn it? Are you interested in doing a post about something like this?
I’ve always loved colours so I’ve been drawn to things like drawing. When I was younger (and poorer) I used to just use whatever was at hand and explore. For example, someone gave me some watercolour pastels when I was a teenager. This was long before Google, lol! I just started using them and, by trial and error, figured out a technique that worked for me. I did hyper realistic portraits with that for a long time. Years later, I started beading the same way; had some loose beads at home, and I found some old felt that my now-husband had from an old project of his. I decided to sew the beads onto the felt and – voila, made my first necklace. It was all trial and error and because this was long before Pinterest, I didn’t have any comparison — I didn’t have to worry about how good or bad I was.
I guess I just like making things, and I tried whatever was at hand; some things worked for me, others (like knitting) didn’t.
Now, I just ordered a bunch of embroidery supplies on Amazon. The perks of having disposable income, haha! Hopefully, this will be something that sticks.
If you’re not sure what you’d like to do (and the possibilities are endless), just play around with what you have, or try some cheap supplies. I didn’t invest in buying beads (oy vey, they’re expensive) until I already had an idea that I liked working with them. Or, look for supplies at thrift stores and the like. I found a bunch of scrapbooking supplies a few weeks ago that cost pennies on the dollar. I’ve thought about buying cheap necklaces at the thrift store to break them apart for the beads … but apparently I’m too bougie for that now 😉
I guess what I’m saying, in a tl;dr way, is that you should experiment and see what you enjoy. There are ways to do it without spending too much money upfront – though, be warned, if you get sucked into a hobby long-term, it can get expensive.
What a transformation! You are so talented. LOVE the bag!
Thank you – you are very sweet, but I am really NOT that talented. I feel like this is a level of craftiness that pretty much anyone can achieve. Even the beading – it only looks fancy, it’s really simple (though that part IS time-consuming).
That’s an amazing rehab! I just don’t have the patience for this kind of thing and I’m always impressed when I see what you’re able to accomplish. Plus it seems like it would be a stress-relieving activity, since you’re not really invested in it coming out perfect. I love that Moulinette tote. Do you know the name?
I think it’s called Seafarer’s Tote.
I love this! And visible mending in general, too. Your post about rehabbing the blazer inspired me to keep my old worn-out Coach bag for rehabbing. It also spurred me to finish projects I’d been meaning to do: needle-felt/ mend a beloved cashmere sweater, which I finished today, and over-dyeing another thrifted cashmere just to change it up. I’m not in entirely in love with the new color of sweater #2 so I’ll probably over-dye it again (it’s very light). Anyway there’s something so satisfying to me about mending, especially when it gives a piece new character. Thanks for the inspiration.
Rehabbing leather bags is something I would love to tackle but it seems scary. Any tips?
Well, I haven’t attempted it yet, but there are plenty of posts out there about it cleaning them and the results look pretty remarkable. Coach sells a leather soap and conditioner, or you can use saddle soap, though some people seem to just use a baby shampoo or similar. Coach also offers rehabbing for a price, which I dunno, may be worth it, depending.
There’s also this place, which looks interesting: http://www.purserehab.com/
P.S. Try Marvy brand fabric markers (lots of shades) or Tee Juice (very bright).