How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

Save money and learn how to restore a leather purse, leather shoes, leather furniture, leather jackets, leather pants, leather anything in 4 easy steps with this DIY tutorial! 

How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

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How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

What’s inside?

Before you start the restoration process the first thing you need to do is empty your purse.

This made  me laugh, but below is what I really carry.

I mean this could be worse right?

For years I have used a small cross-body clutch which then also functions as my wallet and keep it inside my larger purse because this is less cumbersome when I go grocery shopping or run errands etc.  Then I leave my “big purse” in the car.

My very favorite sunglasses in all the world.

Here my sister and I are at the beach last summer being super matchy-matchy in these amazing sunglasses.  There are about a million colors and they cost $4.  Yup.  $4.  So I can sit on them, lose them, and break them to my heart’s content.

My favorite hand cream.  I have requested this in my Christmas stocking for the last several years and keep one in my car and my purse at all times.

So many keys.  I have no idea what 2 of them unlock.  No clue.  And I put them right back into my purse because why  not?

One of these days I think it would be so fun to do a fashion consult.  Ya know where someone who knows way more about these things than me says wear this color, don’t wear this style shirt, this lip shade works best etc.  But until then, I have these 4 lip colors in my purse (Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmer is my favorite!), there’s a different lipstick in my work bag, another brand in my everything drawer in the kitchen, another shade in my car, another one in my beach bag, and not a single lipstick where I keep all my makeup  Haha.  Someone help me!

A changing bag but no diaper . . .hmm.

And I realized no where in my purse does this ER nurse practitioner have band aids or hand sanitizer?!

Yikes!   Well, that was an education.  Now, let’s find out how to make your leather purse look brand new!

 

How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

Before

For as much as I love shoes (check out our master bedroom renovation with an open-closet design and my built-in shoe racks here), I like using only one purse.  One purse to rule them all.  For the last 7 years I have had a purse that also functions as a diaper bag which is how I found Timi and Leslie.  Does anyone know have they gone out of business?!  I couldn’t find their website anymore!  Seriously they had the best bags.  This was my second bag from them, and I absolutely love it.

As you can see it’s gotten a lot of love.

The leather itself is in excellent shape without any tears, but wearing is noted in all the normal places.

I have actually looked for a new purse several times.  These are the purses saved in my Amazon cart as we speak.  But I’m not sold on any of them?!

                                   

So I decided why look for a new purse when I could restore the one I love?!

 

How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

Restoration Kit

Enter my leather restoration kit!

FIRST – determine if your leather is absorbent or non-absorbent by reading this article.  If you have aniline leather or absorbent leather, which is very soft to touch and does not appear to have a “finish” or shine to it, then this method will not work!  Check out this cleaning kit for aniline or absorbent leather.

This kit holds the ingredients to restore your non-absorbent leather in 4 easy steps.  I put all of these items in a bag and label “Leather Care Kit.”

• Leather Honey Leather Cleaner
• Tear Mender Leather Adhesive
• Kiwi Shoe Polish
• Leather Honey Leather Conditioner
• Q-tips
• Clean old socks
• Rubber gloves

 

How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

#1. Clean the leather

Dilute approximately 1 T of the Leather Cleaner in 1/2c of lukewarm water (if restoring large items like furniture then you must use more).

I like to use a clean, old sock dipped in the cleaning solution to wipe down the leather, and another sock to dry it off.  Make sure you let the leather completely dry for several hours.  It should not feel damp to touch.

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How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

#2. Repair the leather

Using the tear mender leather adhesive bottle inspect the leather for any tears or rips.  For larger cuts and tears consider the Leather and Vinyl Repair Kit by Fortivo.  Find it here.  A step-by-step guide to using this repair kit is also included on the Amazon link here.

To use the small tear mender bottle I simply take a tweezers, hold the tear in place while gluing the edges together.  Use a Qtip to wipe off any excess or drips.  (The below images are from a furniture set I restored).

Amazingly my purse had no tears, so I skipped this step.

 

Allow to dry according to directions on the bottle.

 

How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

#3.  Touch up with the shoe polish.

The Kiwi Shoe Polish comes in tan, black, white, brown, blue etc.  Find the color that is closest to the color of your leather.  Take a clean, old sock and apply the polish to your piece focusing on the areas that especially are worn.

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BTW, here is a tip on how to open these cans.  I have two masters degrees, and the first time I used it I had to YouTube how the heck to open this thing.  The bottom line is that you twist the metal piece along the side to catch under the lip of the lid and pop the top off.  Then you just press the top back on when done!

 

 

 

How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

#4.  Condition the leather.

Using Leather Honey’s Leather Conditioner put a small amount on another clean, old sock and rub into the leather.  A little will go a long way, but if the leather is really dry you may need to go over an area a couple times.  Again, leather is skin and needs to be moisturized so rub it in as you would rub lotion onto your arm.

This is my favorite step.  Look how pretty!

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How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

After

After a couple weeks of use, check out my restored leather purse in the video below!

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(Link to our adoption shirt fundraiser here!)

 

Leather Restoration Kit

• Leather Honey Leather Cleaner
• Tear Mender Leather Adhesive
• Kiwi Shoe Polish
• Leather Honey Leather Conditioner

Want to see another example of my Leather Restoration Kit?  Check out the before and afters of this 4 piece leather sofa living room set I restored!

 

How to Restore a Leather Purse in 4 Easy Steps

Before and After

If you give this DIY a try, then tag me on

IG @ahna_hammersnhugs or use the hashtag #hammersnhugs!

I would love to hear from you!

Pin any of the images below for later!