How to Clean (Wash) Soft-Sole Leather Baby Shoes

How to care for leather items has long been a mystery for most of us. Leather purse gets dirty; you donate it. Leather coat gets dirty; you take it to a cleaner. We do feel more comfortable when dealing with adult leather shoes; the supplies to clean and protect these are widely and easily available. But when it comes to children’s soft-sole leather shoes many of us are confused by the conflicting information facing us. We’ve been told all our life not to wash leather in a washing machine and yet that is exactly what most manufactures of soft-sole leather shoes recommend.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. The Washing Machine?
   
   One of the reasons we are told not to wash leather items is that a uniform amount of water needs to penetrate all areas of the leather equally in order to keep it from discoloring. When dealing with the size and the weight of leather used in children’s soft sole shoes the ability to properly saturate the leather is not a problem. Whether washed with other clothing, or by themselves, your soft-sole shoes -- even adult sizes -- can safely be washed in any washing machine.
   
   Unless stated otherwise in the care instructions you receive, you should wash them in warm or cold water. I recommend adding your detergent to the water prior to adding your shoes and making sure it is mixed in well.

2. Drying Your Shoes
   
   Heat will cause leather to tighten up and shrink in size. Therefore, you should never put your shoes in the dryer. If you do, don’t be surprised to find they no longer fit when you get them out. Even if your shoes are too big I don’t recommend using the dryer to shrink them as the shrinking will not be uniform throughout the shoe or from shoe to shoe.
   
   To dry soft-sole leather shoes fresh from the dryer:
   
   1. Place them on a towel and ring as much water out of them as possible
   2. Reshape the shoes
   3. Place over the ends of water bottles or lay flat and allow to dry.
   
   Drying time differs depending on temperature and humidity, but 2-3 days is average. Check them half way through and you may need to turn them inside out.

3. Tool to Speed Up the Drying
   
   To speed the drying of your soft-sole shoes you can take an old wire clothes hanger and bent both ends up. You can then hang the top part of each shoe over the raised ends. In the summer you can hang the hanger outside in the sun/wind and in the winter you can hang them near a vent. This method of drying shoes can reduce the drying time to 1-day, depending upon the climate you live in. Be sure to check them about half way through the day and turn them inside out.

4. When Making Your Own Soft-Sole Shoes
   
   When making your own soft-sole shoes I recommend you wash the leather in hot water and dry in your dryer on a high setting prior to cutting out your pattern pieces. This will cause the leather to shrink the majority of the way. The resulting shoes then can be washed in any water temperature, but never dried in the dryer again.
   
   If your leather ends up wrinkled from the washing process you can press it with a standard iron; do not use steam. Place a light-weight piece of cotton fabric between the iron and leather.

Tips & Warnings

• Misty Marquardt is the designer and owner of Make Them Yourself patterns. She has over 20 years experience sewing with all fabrics and is currently teaching classes on making leather shoes at the University of Texas. Visit her site to check out her soft-sole pattern line: http://www.makethemyourself.com.