I own a pair of black suede dublin half chaps, but at the moment theyre more of a light brown. ive scrubbed them with hard brushes, saddle soap, everything… and they still look tired and brownish grey. The saddle soap just left a filmy residue on the suede… I have heard of some people who have machine washed their suede half chaps. wouldnt that shrink them? they arent the special ariat machine-washable ones (unfortunatly) but nothing else seems to be working. They already are a little small, so the last thing I want to do is shrink them! is it safe to machine wash them? if so, hot or cold water? (im guessing cold, but I just want to be sure…)
I have washed regular suede chaps in the machine, cold water, hang to dry. They were a bit stiff when dry, until I rubbed them together to get them flexible again. Pulling them back and forth over a board for a short time, will soften them up too. Chaps were already brown, so they didn’t really lighten up any. Haven’t tried black ones in the washer.
However with other tack that is black, it seems the color runs when wet, fades in the sun. So after washing the chaps clean, you may want to dye them black again in the washer, before hanging to dry. I would still avoid using hot water, but let them soak for a bit in the dye, before removing them. A rinse in vinegar water might help set the color better. Hang them where the black drips won’t stain anything. Probably will take a couple days to dry, or you could put them on damp, so they could stretch a bit if already tight. THEN hang to dry for that couple days.
Washing suede goods for riding did strike me as “way out” in care of leather when I heard about it. However there were my favorite old chaps, who could stand up WITHOUT me, discolored, with much nasty stuff on them. Had to do SOMETHING about them, so I gave the washer method a try. They came out REALLY NICE. I have been using that method ever since on our chaps.
Hope the washer and dye makes your half-chaps nice again for you.
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I’ve washed mine several/many times. Either in a bucket of warm water or the machine with leather wash. Heck, even just plain water improves them.
Hang to dry.
Cold, gentle cycle, with a detergent made for materials like suede. When I wash suede goods, which is admittedly pretty rare, I use PePeDe detergent.
http://www.smartpakequine.com/pepede-leather-wash-5264p.aspx
There is nothing magical that happens inside a washing maching that can’t happen outside a washing machine (I’ve been trying to teach this to my husband for a LONNNG time- that water, detergent, agitation and rinsing are simple for people to do with their hands)
I think putting your chaps through the washer is WAY more wear and tear than they need, and a bucket soak and then rinse is a much kinder way to go. Maybe use the machine for a spin. If you are concerned about the size/shrinking… I would grit my teeth and put the wet chaps on a few times while they are drying and do some deep knee bends. It’s a lot easier to get wet leather to shape to you than stiff cardboard.
Actually, a machine on gentle/handwash cycle is much less agitation than a pair of hands who need to be doing something else at the time (or three or four other things), even the spin cycle is easier.
I have a few nit items I routinely wash in the machine I would not dream about hand washing! (of course I also have a cheap top loader, not a fancy front loader.)
As for the OP, use something that is meant for leather, or wool light, and wash like you would wash fullseats.
as to the color? it fades. Unless you want to deal with dye, it’s the way of life.
I machine wash mine all the time to keep them clean. I don’t do anything special with them, use regular detergent, and I often wash them with my saddle pads at the same time, and then hang them to dry. They look fine and have held up well.
Don’t use Woolite–it has a bleach in it.
I wash mine and put them through the dryer. They’ve come out fine. But then I don’t mess around with clothes that need all kinds of special handling. Everything gets washed and dried the same way, and if it doesn’t survive it wasn’t meant for my lifestyle :lol:
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there is some for darks out as well
I have the same kind and I toss them in the washer all the time. No detergent, cold, gentle. Then I lay them on a folded towel to dry, flipping them (and the towel) a couple of times. Works great.
[QUOTE=Alagirl;6566483]
there is some for darks out as well[/QUOTE]
I use the Woolite Dark for a most of my laundry. It’s great.
Cold water and dump A LOT of the PINK fabric softener in for the final rinse. I was told this years back by the guy who made my full chaps. I’ve used it on half chaps as well as full. I can’t remember his reasoning behind the pink softener vs. the blue. I just get the cheapo pink in whatever store brand. You want to use lots for the final rinse, far more than would fit in the regular place for the softener. I just dump about one pint or more in. Hang to dry, and when dry you can toss them in the dryer on no heat to soften the leather back up.
I wash mine by hand in cold water using conditioning shampoo as the soap. Use a small wash pan. This gets the crud out but also is easy on the leather, which needs not to be stripped (which is what you’ll get with a pure soap like Woolite or even Orvis paste, which is used by conservators). Pay special attention to the really ground-in dirt; you can use a sponge to aid your hands. Soaking them a bit first sometimes helps loosen the dirt.
I then fill the wash pan with cool water, swish in some hair conditioner, and use this as my second rinse for the chaps. When they’re softened a bit, rinse with clear water and/or put them in the washer on the final rinse-spin cycle. Hang to dry and soften them further, if necessary, by running them in the air-dry (no heat) cycle of the dryer.
Have had good luck both with suede and smooth-leather chaps. This also works well for leather-seated dressage breeches.
