My best stitching job ever got ruined by a single drop of coffee

I was finishing a custom leather journal for a client, and the French link stitch on the spine was perfect, took me about three hours. I set it down to grab my mug, and a single drop splashed right onto the cover board. The dark stain soaked in before I could even blink. The whole thing is a loss now, and I have to start over from scratch. Has anyone found a good way to fix a small, deep liquid stain on vegetable tanned leather?

3 comments

3 Comments

hayes.casey2mo ago

Ugh, that's the worst feeling. I had a similar thing happen with a water stain on a light brown veg tan belt. I tried to even it out by dampening the whole area with a clean sponge, like a wider circle around the stain, and then letting it dry slowly away from heat. It blended it a bit, made it less of a sharp spot, but it's still there if you look close. On something as important as a journal cover, I'd be scared to make it worse. Maybe test it on a scrap piece first if you have any left.

gavin2282mo ago

Man, is it even that bad? Sometimes those little marks give leather character.

hayden_craig952mo ago

Totally get that fear of making it worse on a nice journal cover, @hayes.casey. I messed up a bag strap once trying to fix a water mark and the "blended" area just looked like a big weird smudge. Your damp sponge trick is smart for a belt though. Leather is so tricky once it's stained, it never really goes back to how it was. Testing on a scrap is the only safe move for sure.