I've cleaned a lot of leather (saddles & bridles) - and most all the cleaners say not to use them on suede.
For the leather part you could use either glycerine saddle soap or a product like Lexol's Leather Cleaner, which works well and doesn't stain or darken leather, or leave a residue. A combination of Murphy's Oil Soap mixed with olive oil at a one to one ratio works for cleaning plain leather, but not for suede. For suede, I've used a rubber eraser & a suede brush (little metal comb/brush thingy). This sounds like it would be time consuming on patchwork, so maybe a dry cleaner with experience in suede would be worth the investment. Patty ________________________________________ From: [email protected] [[email protected]] On Behalf Of Robin Netherton [[email protected]] Sent: Monday, July 05, 2010 2:21 PM To: Historic Costume List Subject: [h-cost] Leather cleaning I have acquired a secondhand jacket of leather-and-suede patchwork in reds and blacks. It's in excellent shape -- leather is supple and seams are all intact -- but it could use some cleaning (nothing major, just the sort of grime that comes around cuffs and corners with routine wear). I know nothing about cleaning leather, and I also know both red and black dyes are prone to bleeding, running, and other ills. What's the safest way to get this cleaned? If I take it to a cleaners, is there a particular specialty treatment I should look for? If I do it myself, is there a particular product or approach that would be best? --Robin _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume Please note that Mount Union's campus e-mail addresses have changed from [email protected] to [email protected]. The username has not changed - only the domain. _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
