Growing Old Gracefully pt.4

This lovely Peggy in Dark Tan (on the left) was brought in by our customer Emma and she has been using it for around 18 months now and isn’t it gorgeous? The Peggy on the right is how it started off life and you can see it just gets better with age!

If you would like to share your aged Mimi products, please email Julia at: julia@mimiberry.co.uk and we might feature it here on our blog.

Even Handbags Need TLC

We often get asked by customers what the best product and way to clean, nourish, or remove scratches and marks. So we’ve created a handy step-by-step picture tutorial with our tan Peggy bag as a model.

1.
Here at the studio and shop we have found the best product to be Chelsea Leather Food. Created in 1890 and used by the British Museum to restore leather pieces, it’s gentle on the leather and stitching making it ideal. Made out of only natural waxes and oils it will protect your bag from the natural elements as well as minimising scratches.

You can use any type of leather food for this tutorial, we just recommend Chelsea Leather Food.

So, to start you will need a tub of leather food and a clean soft cloth.

2.
On our Peggy we are trying to remove the scratch marks that have occurred on the back of our bag.

These steps can also be used to just give your handbag a general spruce up which we recommend doing 3-4 times a year to prolong it’s life, as well as removing some of the surface dirt.

3.
Get a small amount of wax on your cloth, not too much as you will want to spread the wax around (about the size of a pea).

4.
Spread the wax directly onto the surface of the bag, being careful to spread it out evenly and not have blobs of thick wax in any areas (this can create dark spots on the bag).

Be sure to massage the wax into the surface with your cloth and feel free to press quite hard.

When the wax on the cloth runs out, top up with the same pea sized amount, as this will prevent the build of wax in one spot.

Regardless as to whether you are treating a specific area or just giving your bag some nourishment, you must wax the entire surface. If you were to wax just one part of the bag it could cause an uneven surface colour.

5.
In this picture, the left side of the bag has been treated with leather food and the right side has not.

What a difference!

6.

Here is the finished Peggy, fully waxed and those scratches have disappeared!

When waxing, pay particular attention to the edges and seams, as these are the areas that are subjected to the most wear and tear and will become the most dry.

Do not use the bag for 24 hours, as this will allow the oils to sink into the leather.

If you would rather remove the wax residue from the surface, wait the 24 hours and then buff off with a new clean cloth. However we recommend leaving the surface wax as this helps protect the leather from water.

7.
When you are finished waxing, you may notice that there is dye from the bag on your cloth. This is completely normal and you will not have any lighter patches on the surface of the bag.

On a newer bag, please note that the wax will darken the surface colour.

Chelsea Leather Food is sold in our Cheshire Street Store.