Lincoln Bag

I forgot to show my Lincoln Bag in the last post. I have had such a hard time with this bag that I almost had to start over on the leather work. When I FINALLY got it back from the leather place I sent it to, and it took months, I wanted to cry. It was put together with yellow leather. The yellow completely washed out the whole bag and it was awful! After a few days of depression I got some leather dye and started to dye the leather a brown. It took the whole bottle. Then I just put some Neets Foot oil on it. Well, that wasn't enough of a seal.

At Prairie Rose I had my water in the bag when I was going to class and it leaked. There was dye going everywhere! It was on my hands, my clothes, the floor, my chair...everywhere! I was so disappointed I wanted to throw the whole thing away. When we left Prairie Rose it was raining and  that was enough to get more dye on me.

My dear friend Patty Tyrrell got a hold of her neighbor who does beautiful leather work and Patty took my bag home with her for her neighbor to look at. I wanted to have the leather removed and new leather sewn on the bag but the neighbor was a little too nervous to do that. She and Patty did dye a piece of leather and put a sealer over it. They tested three sealers and when they were dry Patty did the water test. One won out.

I bought new dye and the sealer and went to work again. For now I'm pretty happy. Last time I checked I could wipe a little dye off with a wet cloth but nothing like it was. I'm leaving it alone for a while and waiting to see if it cures better with time. If not I'll try adding more sealer.

Yes, I did tell them the color of leather I wanted, and no they didn't do it. Yes I paid $125 for the work and no I didn't say anything to them about it. It took so long to get it back and they were so awful about communication I was afraid to send it back. The bag was sewn beautifully. It has a great canvas lining and pockets and I had a zipper put in the top. If I ever do have it redone I will do it locally where I can pick my own leather out.

The colors of the bag are brighter than it shows and it has a navy background. 

Post written by Sylvia Gauthier