Category: Thrifting Fun

How I Rehabbed my Vintage Coach Dakota Purse

I mentioned in my thrift post earlier this week that I thrifted a vintage Coach purse that was in pretty terrible condition.

I loved the style and color of the purse, but when looking at it closely it had scratches, pen marks, weird dirty marks, and even what looked like some paint splatter on the back of it. I mean it WAS at the thrift store, so someone obviously decided that it was beyond hope and stuck it in their donation bag.

For me… it was a diamond in the rough. Or a $29 gamble. Because for $29 and whatever cleaning crap I could throw at it, I had the chance for it to look beautiful again.

First up, I grabbed my handheld vacuum and sucked all the gross crumbs out of the purse. Then, I filled up my bathroom sink with cold water and added a squeeze of dish detergent. I stuck the entire bag in and just swished and washed it for a bit. I mean, it’s leather… so I figured water should be okay. And if not. GAMBLE.

So, swish, swish, swish. Sure, the red dye made the water look like a crime scene, but it also got out a lot of the overall yuck that had been going on. While it was wet, I scrubbed at the paint splatter with an old toothbrush and also just my fingernail to pop off each chunk of paint.

I also grabbed a thing of suede cleaner that I had sitting around in my ‘shoe care’ bin and gave the inside flap a good scrub. After another nice wash, I lightly wiped the entire purse (inside and out) with an old washrag. Then, I stuffed the purse with crumpled paper to keep it open and let it dry.

At this point, I also used some leather wax I had to polish up the brown scratched leather on the front of the purse. I applied it with my fingers and just rubbed it in really good. Then, once that soaked in, I gave it another round of leather wax massage until I saw some real improvement. I also gave all the brown leather edges a nice swipe with the wax because they looked a little thirsty.

Then, I stuck the purse on a shelf, got busy and ignored it for a couple days.

When I went back to look at it, I was pretty impressed! I was able to get ALL the paint splatter and overall yuck off the purse. Most of the pen marks also came out, and I could probably get the rest out with another round of suede cleaner if I felt like it. As for those brown leather scratches, they look SO MUCH better!

After I did my round of cleaning, I did some internet stalking of the bag and I found that it is actually a pretty rare bag from the Dakota collection. Each purse in the collection was made by hand in Italy and there was not a widespread release. The Dakota line featured structured box-grained water and stain resistant leather, an unlined interior, and polished brass hardware.

I can’t find this exact bag for sale anywhere (even in sold listings), but other colorways are reselling from $150 – 300. While I’m not looking to resell it, I am happy to enjoy its classic design for many years to come.

Also, I’m pretty pleased with my $29 gamble!

June Thrift Haul

This month was a big thrifting month for me, but honestly I made some missteps and they aren’t ALL winners. Luckily thrifting mistakes are relatively inexpensive mistakes to make, so let’s go through what I found during the month of June.

LAND backpack, $7.49

Okay, stick with me for a moment because YES I am aware that this is a diaper bag backpack. I was looking for an insulated bag that we could use for the beach, as we currently stick food and drinks in a grocery bag and then shove them into either a larger beach bag or the back of one of our beach chairs. So, when I saw this insulated diaper backpack I was intrigued. It has a bunch of organizing pockets, an insulated area, it’s huge inside, water resistant and even has padded straps. I feel like it will actually be pretty fantastic for a beach food/drink bag, and I can’t wait to give it a try when we go to Ocean City later this summer.

Max Studios skirt, $6.99

Okay, don’t sleep on the high-low skirts because it’s such an easy fix! I loved the fabric weight, print and fit of this skirt, and it took less than 10 minutes to cut it, pin it and sew a new hem:

I love this skirt for summer and I’ve already worn it to work once so far.

Workout shorts, $4 (sale)

I grabbed these workout shorts and crossed my fingers that they’d fit because they got rid of all our fitting rooms. These have built-in bike shorts, with the floral portion fitting a little looser. I’ve worn them once so far and they’re okay. A little *too* fitted for me, but okay. I may put these in the back of a drawer to see if they fit better when my weight fluctuates down a little.

Lacy/Crochet cardigan, $3 (sale)

Once again, I was using my imagination for this one. I liked the lightweight lace, but fully acknowledge that it looks super dated when put over a top and shorts. Which is why I chopped it off at the waist to try it layered over dresses. And honestly, it’s not great and will most likely make its way back to the donate pile.

Chana dress, $30

I think this came from Anthropologie based on the tags that were still on it for $170. I love the fit of the dress and the weight of the heavy cotton fabric. I was a little flummoxed about that deep v though, until I realized that I can style it like a pinafore for work! By layering it over a blouse and topping it with a straw belt, it makes it much more casual and I can get so much more wear out of it. I think this one will also look fun styled for cooler weather with a black blouse and knee-high boots. Or a sweater on top, tights and ankle booties.

Kate Spade Viva Colores Sidney skirt, $11.29

I was super excited to find this colorful cotton skirt from Kate Spade, but when I got it home and tried it on it’s not really doing much for me. Weirdly, the waistband is way too loose (which yes, I can fix), but the length is also a little short on me. I tried it over top of a fluffier slip-like skirt for a two-toned look and it’s okay, but just not thrilling me. This has been added to my Poshmark closet and I hope someone else finds it and loves it.

Starbucks ceramic mug, $3.99

I have two Starbucks ceramic travel mugs and they are great for mornings that I want to sip my coffee on my way into the office. This one was pretty and in perfect condition, so I figured I’d add it to my cupboard.

Dona Joe Running skirt, $7.99

Another day, another running skirt. I’ve been very into skorts for our evening walks lately, so I scooped this one up (once again, without trying it on). It’s cute and I think it may also be a fun swim coverup later this summer.

Anthropologie skirt, $5.29

Sigh. Another skirt bummer. This one is new with $130 tags on it from Anthropologie and it’s too tight in the waist for me. I hate that they got rid of fitting rooms, because this particular thrift location is about 45 minutes away from my house. As it is, this one has been added to my Poshmark closet too.

Leota dress, $11.99

I love a good Leota jersey dress and the fit and colors of this one are fantastic. This is a great workhorse dress and I especially love them for packing for conferences since they don’t wrinkle. This one will be great in the fall alone, or topped with a blazer or denim jacket.

Coach Dakota purse, $29

I’ve been so jealous of the thrifting girlies who find vintage Coach bags and rehab them… and I’ve been keeping my eyes out for months/years(?) for a vintage Coach of my own from the thrifts. On this particular trip, I actually saw THREE leather Coach bags, but this one was the winner for me. Even though it was in absolutely terrible condition with scratches, pen marks, overall yuck and even paint splatter(?!) on the back. You can have a peek at my rehab on this video, but I’ll be doing a full blog post soon since I’m so pleased with the results:

I researched the heck out of this bag and found that it is actually pretty rare in that it’s from the Dakota collection and each purse was made by hand in 1992. While some of the purses were shown in a Coach catalogue, it doesn’t appear that they did a full roll-out to the public. I found this version in a navy blue and a green, but haven’t found any others listed for sale or sold in the exact version I have in red. With that being said, I’m not looking to resell it, but to enjoy it’s classic design for many years to come.

My Style: May 2024

This month was a wonderful mix of cooler and warmer days, and it was so nice to finally fully pack away the tights and boots for the summer. However, I haven’t *quite* gotten all the summer stuff out yet and I’ve really been enjoying those days where I don’t need heat OR air conditioning in the house (and so does my wallet).

Let’s take a look at my May looks:

All the jewel tones at the beginning of this month! I am not a pastel-loving kind of girl, so give me some saturated colors and I’m pretty darn happy. While I typically go for patterned skirts and dresses, for these three outfits I went with the solid skirts and then worked in the patterns with my tops.

Out of these three outfits, the middle blouse may be hitting the donate pile. I’m going to try it again with some denim shorts this summer before making up my mind.

More skirt combos — I’m basically working my way through my entire skirt collection to decide what stays and what goes. And I like all of these combos, so it looks like nothing gets purged from this set out outfits.

Three more casual outfits for my weekends — I’m kind of obsessed with that first skirt. I thrifted it in Tuscan and I’ve been wearing it on repeat because it makes me so happy! Also, with the warmer weather I’m switching to ‘crossbody purse season’ and I’m excited to start using my vintage Coach finds!

Once again, nothing gets purged from this set of outfits and you will be seeing all of these pieces again and again this summer.

Last outfit — which is what I’m wearing to work today. I thrifted this skirt over the weekend, washed it, hemmed it (it previously had a high-low hem) and couldn’t hold off from wearing it ASAP! No purge items here either!

New vs. Secondhand Talley

This month, I count 14 items that I purchased retail and 21 items I purchased secondhand! And wow, it was a month of skirts — out of the 10 skirts from this post, 5 were purchased retail and 5 were purchased secondhand.