A few months ago I found this yellow leather handbag by Cynthia Rowley at T.J. Maxx and simply HAD TO HAVE IT. It was a little pricier than I normally pay for a purse, but not as astronomical as if I had been paying RETAIL. I just couldn’t resist the soft yellow color and the overall shape and design of the bag. It quickly became my very FAVORITE purse!
Unfortunately, after several business trips (including 2 to New York City) it was looking pretty abused. As much as I LOVE the color of this bag, it’s also incredibly impractical for keeping clean. Especially when I’m dragging it through airports, shuttle buses, taxi cabs, parking lots, restaurants, etc.
Before my most recent trip to Austin, Texas for BlogHer Food ’13 I sadly emptied my favorite purse and hung it up in the laundry room until I could figure out what to do with it. I just couldn’t take it with me. I felt terrible.
Ever since then, every time I walk by it hanging on a peg in the laundry room I hear it calling out to me, “Help me!” lol. But I had no idea what to do! Earlier attempts at spot cleaning were not successful and it needed a lot more than just SPOT cleaning now.
I probably should have taken it to a professional leather cleaner (not that I’ve ever heard of one of those before), but you know me, I want to do it myself. (Hmmmmmm…just realized that the acronym for “do it myself” is DIM…maybe we’re onto something here! lol)
So I devoted some time out of my crazy busy day yesterday to research how to clean a leather purse, because my yellow friend was depending on me! After many, many unsatisfactory answers, I came across a post by Serene at Elegant Bohemian about how she washed her leather Coach bag in the WASHING MACHINE!
Related: How to Clean Leather Furniture
At first I was certain I had read it wrong, but no, I hadn’t. She had taken a leather Coach bag that was in much the same shape as my beloved Cynthia Rowley bag (basically headed to the donation pile) and decided to give it a spin in the washer. Since her post only shows “After” pictures, I had to take her word for the results. But with a name like Serene, how could I go wrong! ;-) So off to the laundry room I went, to either give my purse a new lease on life or sign it’s death certificate.
Serene used Murphy’s Oil Soap to wash her bag, but I’ve never been much of a fan of MOS, so I decided to try some of my trusty Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap.
Instructions:
HUGE DISCLAIMER: This worked for me, but that certainly doesn’t guarantee it will work for everyone. As a matter of fact, I can hear professional cleaners all over the world GROANING after reading this post. It’s definitely a method to be reserved for items that are in that “what have I got to lose?” category. Proceed at your own risk. :-)
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Completely clean out your bag. Make sure you check all those little pockets!
Pour about 1/4 cup castile soap into the washing machine, drop in bag, set washer to GENTLE CYCLE (or hand wash cycle…something along those lines), and turn it on.
Now walk away go douse yourself in Zen essential oil blend to quell the anxiety you are now feeling! :-) Breathe deeply too!
When the cycle is done, you can either toss the bag in the dryer on LOW heat with some big, fluffy towels for 5-10 minutes, then hang to dry….OR…you can take it outside (if it’s a nice, sunny day like it was at my house!) and let it dry in the sunshine.
When your bag is completely dry, protect it with some leather conditioner. (I haven’t done this step YET.)
As you can see, the washer actually WORKED! Much to my surprise there was a HUGE improvement! Not PERFECT, but vastly improved and definitely good enough to take out in public again! :-)
I might have gotten a little choked up as I hung it back up in the laundry room last night, restored to it’s former glory. I think I might have even heard it humming a happy little tune. ;-)
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This is old but it reposted the other day and I deleted it by mistake!!! I have lots of handbags but tend to use the same one over & over. It’s beat up so I took out a more “spring” (light blue) bag with intentions to toss the old one. I did a search & found this on the web. Looking at the blue bag in daylight, I was ready to toss that, too. It was yellow with age. I have leather cleaner but it wasn’t worth the time or work. I’ll try it tomorrow – right now I’m “laundry stripping” in the washer (it works!!).
Please log in or create a free account to comment.If it doesn’t work on the handbag, I’ll go back to my original intention and toss it.
Thanks for the info, Jillee!!!
I love leather purses or just about everything leather. I buy my purses preowned and always wash them in the washer. Always be pleased with results.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.What water temp did you set it at when washing your bag?
Please log in or create a free account to comment.My machine automatically does cold water on the delicate and hand-wash cycles :-)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.HOLY SMOKES! I just soaked my bag with an open water bottle. Quickly ran to your Pinterest page for an answer—to fnd THE EXACT SAME ROWLEY BAG, the EXACT ONE as the one you tested this on!! Quelle surprise!! Thank you, I feel so much better about trying this now that I’ve seen you had such great results. And that you have such great taste in bags :))
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Please log in or create a free account to comment.The light yellow color bag is ne of my favorite choices. I like your bag. And I love how to remove stains from your bags. It looks like as new.
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I don’t have castile soap, is there another kind of soap that will work? And will this get mold out? My purse got lost in the backseat of my car and some liquid got spilled on it and the cloth liner has nasty black mold spots. Its my all time favorite purse and I want to save it if I can.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi. I just bought a nice, thick white leather purse (kenneth cole reaction) today at my goodwill store but it’s very stained and dirty. Also cheap because of that. I was looking online for hints to clean it and i found this website. I am so excited to wash it right after work. Also have another beautiful white michael kors purse at home and that’s going in the washer,as well, since that is also dirty. Thank you so very much !!!!!! Sue Hall
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Great job! It looks vastly improved! I, too, wash leather items in the washing machine…leather slippers, leather gloves, purses, tennis shoes…even my suede leather coat! I just air dry them & they’ve always come out fine! If you want to gloves, make sure you put them on wet to give them back their shape before they air dry. Although, I have forgotten & run them through the dryer before…doesn’t hurt, just takes a lil more effort to stretch them out to wear. P.S. I LOVE THAT BAG!!
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Nice post, i am running an online shopping store in Dubai, i always spend a lot of money when any of my leather bag got dirty due to dust or touching by clients, i have to display some items in showcase so that clients can try them, but now i guess i can do the cleaning stuff at my own, first i will try it on only one item :) but if successful then i will go for remaining 7 bags too.
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Please log in or create a free account to comment.Hi! If you ever would like to donate this bag leg me know, I can pay you some money for it and shipping, I love it and can not find similar style and color! I’m serious!:)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Omg! I wss looking to clean my purse and this is the SAME purse that I have! I also fell in love with it at TJs! Im so excited to finally clean this effer! Thanks for the lovely advice. :)
Please log in or create a free account to comment.Awesome! This is so true of many things I wash. Like jackets that says dry clean only. Then I took it to a dry cleaner several times but they don’t get the spots out. So I also put it in the washing machine even after trying to hand wash. Machine wash worked perfectly.
Please log in or create a free account to comment.The garments looks perfect and smells devine! Which is all I want at the end.
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Please log in or create a free account to comment.Love Dr. Bronner’s soap…use it on almost everything in our home. But had not thought about using it this way! Thanks for sharing! Just tweeted this out :)
Gypsy.
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