Saturday, September 9, 2017

"If You Give Katie Some Leather Dye"

This long, drawn out story is classic Katie Mansfield.
I think the "If You" books were based on the story of my life.
You know that books that I'm talking about;
"If You Give A Mouse A Cookie"
"If You Give A Moose A Muffin"
"If You Give A Pig A Pancake"
Those always have a happy ending.
I wasn't sure that this DIY story was going to end happily.
It did but for a minute I wasn't sure.


I don't know if I've told you this but Bill makes his own belts.
He goes to Tandy Leather and gathers his supplies. He uses prefab belt kits but he hand dyes the leather.


He is amazing.


I was not content to let him have a crafting medium all to his own so I needed to get in on the leather dyeing action.


I've been dyeing purses and wallets.
So much fun.
I've embarked on a "get it cheap and rehab it" kick.


These successes caused me to believe that I was invincible.
We ordered a new cocktail ottoman for the upstairs in April.

The new ottoman. It's bigger.

We brought the old ottoman downstairs.
It needed to be dyed to match the brown leather club chair.


Perfect.
See it in this post.


We needed the new ottoman to match our existing loveseat.


They didn't have a brown one in the store. All they had on the floor was green.


We looked at the swatches - small swatches.


I pulled up a picture of our loveseat on my phone.
I thought it would match.
It didn't match at all.
The loveseat is a reddish brown leather. The new ottoman is chocolate.
Buoyed by my successes with purses and the other ottoman, I decided to dye the loveseat to match the new cocktail ottoman.


I tested the dye colors on the back of a cushion.


It looked good so I went for it.


I'll interject at this point that the guy at Tandy Leather said this wouldn't work.
Pinterest said it would.


I believed Pinterest.


Yikes!


This "leather" sofa was not cheap.
Not all leather furniture is created equal.
I believe the cushions are leather but the sides and back are pleather.


I was freaking out.


This needed to be fixed before Bill got home from work. 
I wiped the whole thing down with a damp rag. 
Nail polish remover worked on some of the streakier spots. 
I let it dry completely. 
It took several days, (weeks.) 
Even then, I periodically took a rag to it and dye came off. 
 It was like the dye was sitting on top of the leather instead of penetrating into the leather. 

I really thought we were going to have to get a new loveseat. 


No. 
It ended up turning out okay. 




I still see minor imperfections but with time I've forgotten they are there.


I'm so glad this story had a happy ending.
Thanks for following along.
Katie

6 comments :

  1. Katie, you are more daring than I am. :) Your hard work really did turn out great in the end!!
    hugs,
    Jann

    ReplyDelete
  2. So glad it turned out alright. I must admit I was starting to panic there.

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  3. Katie, it looks great. Total match. You were very brave and it paid off. Have a wonderful week..Judy

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