My bag is mostly canvas except for a few parts where it is leather.
Unfortunately, I did not keep the leather well and it peeled very badly.
Here’s a picture:
A big portion has peeled off. And the leather has cracked badly.
I was thinking of buying those leather repair kits but was advised against by the vendor
Any creative solutions how I can still salvage the bag aesthetically?
I have thought of peeling all the leather out altogether and redyeing the underneath cloth black… But I hope for better ideas…
It looks more like the leather never really was leather, but instead was a “bonded” or “PU” synthetic product. PU leather is what used to be called pleather - the PU stands for polyurethane.
Unfortunately, there really is no fix - just cover it, replace it or live with it. Peeling the remaining poly off might be worth trying, but for every patch of peeled-away surface, there will be an area of eternally bonded and never letting go.
I can’t tell the overall style of the bag, or your own personal style, but you might think of doing something creative with duct tape and/or bumper stickers.
That was never actual leather. It’s a synthetic product laminated over a fabric of some sort. A.k.a. “pleather”.
It can’t be fixed.
Well, OK, you COULD, in theory cut new pieces the same size and shape out of either new “pleather”, leather, or something that will do the same job, remove the old pieces, and stitch the new pieces in place. The next two questions are 1) is it worth that much to you and 2) do either you or someone you know have the skills to do that?
Sorry, I know it’s not the answer you wanted, but speaking as someone who used to do that sort of work I’m afraid that’s where you are.
If it were me, I’d take this as a good time to go bag shopping.
Are the fake leather parts of the bag entirely external? (i.e. patches and corner reinforcements applied on the outside of the canvase fabric)
If so, and if you really do love the bag that much, you could just get some new (real) leather and make new parts - you’ll need to pierce the stitch holes with an awl before trying to sew them in place.
If you have a craft supplies store near you, these places sometimes have a big bin of leather offcuts in various thicknesses, colours and textures that you can buy by weight.
Thanks for all the suggestions.
I’m now thinking if peeling apart all the leather and just painting the cloth.
Any quick way to strip the leather?
What type of paint can I use?
Well, if you’re lucky and it’s just stitched on you can use a seam ripper or (carefully) the point of an exacto knife to cut the stitches and then it should peel off.
If, however, glue or some other adhesive was also used to attach those bits you’ll have a hot mess of sticky underneath. In which case your best option would be to re-cover those areas with something.
As for paint - fabric paint of some sort, go to your local craft store for you local options and 1) read the instructions for surface prepping and 2) ask the staff/other customers for advice on that.