A Roll of the Dice

When I was pregnant with Angie, Miguel bought me a leather coat for Christmas, one that would fit over my expanding belly and still fit me well in the years following birth.  It was a fawn colored suede and oh so lovely.  But it's been six years since he bought it for me and I've never once had it cleaned.  You can imagine what it looks like.  Soiled cuffs and collar, elbows and pockets.  There's ballpoint pen markings in a few places.  It's a lovely coat, but it costs so much to have suede cleaned; almost more than Miguel paid for the coat. 

I looked online to see if you could launder suede leather in the washing machine.  Some sites said yes, no problem! and others said absolutely never!  But I figured, I can't really wear the coat as it is, so I might as well give it a try.  What do I have to lose?  It turns out that you can launder suede leather.  I thought it was going to come out darker, since they say water stains suede, but it didn't.  I even used an oxy stain remover spray and a toothbrush to work on the ballpoint pen markings without incident.  Though the leather feels stiffer than it did, I do have some suede/leather conditioner that I can try on it. 

All in all, I'm pleased with the results.  The coat is not back to "like new" condition, but it certainly better than it was, and now I know that I can wash it when it needs it!