WAIL! What am I going to dooooo?!?! [dramatic thread, as opposed to light hearted]

[ZombTEE]

So earlier this week I reached into my lovely Fossil canvas and leather handbag to find...the banana my son had handed me a week ago.

So, not just ewwwwwww but oh shit what do I do now?

I contact Fossil who pretty much said, yeah, you really can't wash it. Maybe dry clean it, but doubtful.

Friends have said it's unsalvageable because banana just melts to nothing and gets into the fabric.

Oh wise and wonderful Nest of Vipers?...any suggestions?

I forgot:

Yes, it's a first world problem and I do have more important things to worry about.

Like whether to buy Cobra or Stella at the shops today...

Well, first you could put this in the 'Good Housekeeping' forum.
Those women KNOW stuff.

Oh that's a good idea, Choco. I'll ask MN to move it for me.

yup, you definitely need to change the title or location to tempt the housekeeping vipers out.

I was expecting a different kind of woe and had my sympathetic hat on ready. Here's my sympathy but that won't get the banana out. I assume the banana mush was not contained in the skin?

Does it have a lining? Can you pull it out of the bag (whilst leaving it attached IYSWIM) and hand wash it leaving it to dry on the out side? If the mush has gone through that it might just go crusty on the inside of the leather with out soaking through? I would hand wash all lining and canvas whilst avoiding the water coming into contact with the leather. If it does have a lining can you cut it out and put a new one in?

I really do feel your pain.

Hmmm...linings are often tethered so might not come out. A fairly confident needle fairy could unpick, clean and restitch, although a slightly less confident one could just remove the lining altogether, wash it and run the lot down to a decent cobbler to get it put back.
Or resort to frequent use of baby wipes.

dry cleaning maybe not sure how that works but would that help

You OK Tee?

Will the lining pull ouy for you to just rinse that through. My feeling is that they say not to wash it for the same reason you are not meant to wash lined curtains, that is because the two different types of fabric will have different rates of shrinkage. Just gently hand wash the lining and you should be fine.

I would just hand wash it. I did this to my dd's leather and fabric bag that a bottle of squash leaked into. It was fine. Leather and canvas are quite sturdy fabrics so I don't see why you can't wash them.

How about using saddle soap on the leather bits?

Thanks everyone!

The problem is that the lining is stitched via hemming into the main fabric, if that makes sense? So it's not loose or easy to unstitch to take off to clean. It also means who knows what's between the layers of lining and then canvas bag!

I have nothing to lose so I may just put in the washing machine inside a pillow case on gentle cycle and cross my fingers...

Could you get as much as you can out, then blast it with a steam cleaner?
(Have new steam cleaner so think it is the answer to everything!)

Very good idea, Nine, except some of us don't have a steam cleaner!

Also, I forgot to say, the leather is fine, it's only on the trim and it seems to have missed the Wrath Of The Banana?.

And, yes, whomever asked, banana was half out of it's skin because after I peeled it the 3 year old did a 'cutted up pear' and refused to eat it because the tip broke off. There was no bin nearby so I threw it into my handbag.

It should also be noted that I loathe bananas in anything but baked goods so I am especially grossed out by this!

You must be able to get handbags wet, right? Or everyone would need a new handbag every time it rained. So I would suggest immersing it in warm water and gently washing it like that. You could use baby bath on the inside or something that would be really gentle on the leather in case it comes into contact with it. When you dry it, make sure it dries really slowly to avoid the leather cracking. I love my fossil handbag and feel your pain.

It's certainly been rained on, Shinkingnora! But liquified banana is hardly the same as some rain.

Although fair point about being able to wash it.

The lining in my nice £70 JL bag isn't tethered.

I know this because it's had a serious scrub and rinse under the tap due to forgotten and unbelievably stick sherbet lemons.

Washed ok, but has various pockets so it took ages to dry.

I once smashed a jar of marmalade in the changing bag. Sticky broken glass everywhere. Anyway, I digress - give it a bath as you would a newborn. Not to hot and no chemicals.

PS If liquefied banana were the same as rain I would never leave the house.

Scrub as best you can to stop horrid black banananess, then speak to a dry cleaner.

A lined handbag is not much different to a leather jacket, cloth, leather, pockets and zips. A good dry cleaner ought to know who to send it to.

It won't be cheap, but Fossil bags aren't and they are far too nice to bin (my DSIS had one for her 40th and is still in love several years later).

Stardrops miracle cleaner honestly you can use it for bloody anything and its cheap I'd pop it in a pillowcase with some stardrops in then into the washing machine on a delicates or silk cycle.

Did it work?!

Send it to furnitureclinic.co.uk. They have a handbag spa service. I spilt milk in my Fendi leather and canvas bag. Smelt awful. Dry cleaners wouldn't touch it. Came back like new from there though. Expensive but did the job.

Anyy use?