Let’s Dye a Leather Purse!

Have you ever received a gift that you appreciated and liked but didn’t quite love? A friend of mine gave me a leather purse as a thank you for some work I did with her restoring an old mobile home. I had been telling her that I wanted to get a new purse and sort of what I was looking for. The purse she sent to me was taller than what I had in mind and the color wasn’t quite what I had been thinking of getting. I did mention that the color wasn’t one that went very well with my wardrobe and she told me that there were other colors to choose from and where she got it online. I looked at the color selection but they didn’t offer anything that I thought would be better. Hmmm, what were my options?

I started looking at ideas for how to refab this new leather purse. Since it was new AND leather, I didn’t want to mess it up. My first goal was to change the size of the purse. It was much taller than I wanted & that meant I would just end up filling it up with all sorts of stuff. What if I removed the sewn on leather straps and maybe folded down the top? That’s an idea! I removed the leather straps with a seam ripper then folded down the top of the purse 4″. That was better! But now I saw that I would need to remove the zippered pouch & reposition it lower on the inside of the purse. The pouch was also sewn in so I used the seam ripper again and it came off easily.

Now my question was, how would I reattach the straps and zippered pouch? My sewing machine is not a heavy duty one and I didn’t want to try it by hand. After some research on leather working, I found some little screws that would work! They are Tandy Leather Screw Posts that are sold in sets. I bought two separate sizes, an 1/8″ that sold in a pack of 10 for $7 and 1/4″ that sold in two packages of 10 for $12. There were color options and I chose the black.

• 

• 

With the redesign of the purse figured out, my next step was to find a way to change the color. The only option I could think of was to dye the leather. Have you ever dyed leather? I hadn’t tried to do so before but it did sound like a viable option. After reading about the process, it looked like I might have some trouble with dying the outside of the purse and the straps. That leather was smooth and not porous. But I was willing to give it a go anyway.

Once I decided to dye the purse, the next step was to decide what color. I started shopping for dye. Since I had the top of the purse folded over, I wanted to change the color of the inside of the purse too & found a gorgeous purple dye! I bought the dye that is made for suede ($10). I wanted to dye the outside olive. There isn’t an olive dye so I searched to find out what colors make olive. Did you know it is black & yellow? No? Me either! How odd is that?! I ordered black ($9) and yellow ($7) .

• 

• 

• 

I started with the interior by turning the purse inside out and setting it on a box to support it while I worked. As you can see, the upper part of the purse interior turned out a nice, deep purple while the rest was just a purply-brown.

After allowing the dye to dry for a couple of days, I took the purse to the garage to apply the Deglazer as this process needs to be done where there is good ventilation. Using a soft rag and wearing gloves, I applied the deglazer to the outside of the purse. Once that was dry, I took the purse back into the house to dye the outside. Mixing the black and yellow together, I tested it on a scrap of leather that I had on hand and it looked like the color of olive I was wanting to have. Using the wool applicator, I dyed the outside of the purse and left it to dry. The pics below will give you an idea of the new color vs the original. It isn’t as olive as I hoped but I do like the color better.

Once the dye on the outside of the purse was dry, it was time to reattach the zippered pouch to the inside of the purse. Turning the purse inside out again & using my drill and a small drill bit, I positioned the pouch where it would be two inches from the new top of the purse then drilled through the top of the pouch and the purse at the same time to create 4 holes along the top of the pouch. With the holes created, I used the 1/8″ screw/post sets to attach the pouch to the purse. The next step was to attach the handles. With the purse turned right side out, I turned over the top and marked where the straps would go. Using the drill, I created two holes for each end of the straps then positioning them on the purse, drilled holes in the leather. For the straps, I used the 1/4″ screw/post sets and screwed the straps into place. I also added a magnetized snap to the purse. These are easy to attach by cutting two tiny slits in the leather, feeding the brads on the snap through and then bending them over to secure them in place.

• 

• 

• 

To add a little interest, I created a flower using a chamois. I didn’t take pictures of this process but I cut the chamois into strips and pulled the strips to make them ruffle then dyed 1/2 of them purple and the rest olive. I attached the leaves to the purse with a 1/4″ screw/post then glued on a decorative button. This is my favorite part of this purse!

• 

• 

Purse Refab Process

The cost to do this refab was close to $60! Way more than I anticipated when I thought I’d do a quick update. Although, I did have enough of the black & yellow dye to use on a pair of shoes and have several sets of screw/posts on hand for other projects.

I’m excited to share more projects with you as well as tips/tricks/freebies! Just enter your email below to be one of my Blog Peeps!

Send me all the Goodies!

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Leave this field empty if you’re human: