Anybody here ever do a leather repair/recolor on a sofa?

[Silver Gaia]

I've got a leather sofa that has a small rip I want to mend, and needs to be recolored where the seat is worn and the color has faded. I've seen kits for doing this sold online, and just wondered if anyone here has any experience with doing this. This is the company that seems to have the best reviews:

http://www.leathermagic.com/index.html

Anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

[Warpy]

1. Most people find it unsatisfactory over the long term, I'm afraid

since it's only a temporary fix that will need to be repeated fairly often.

Small rips in leather turn into big ones over time and there's little you can do to stop the process beyond enshrining the piece of furniture behind a velvet rope so no one uses it.

However, extending the life of any piece of furniture is a great thing, so the particulars are here: http://tombuildsstuff.blogspot.com/2013/07/do-leather-repair-kits-work.html

Most people at Amazon seemed to like it short term: http://www.amazon.com/Leatherique-Restoration-Products-16oz-Kit/product-reviews/B0002SPCBW

And if it doesn't work, there is always http://www.surefit.net/

[Silver Gaia]

2. Well, I'll be trying the Leather Magic products.

They seem to have the best reviews, and their site is informative and makes sense to me. I'll take some before and after photos and report back on how it goes. It's just a small rip, so I'm hoping it will mend just fine, and the recoloring of the faded areas doesn't sound all that difficult to do. It's worth a try at least! Surefit covers are nice if you have the right type of sofa for them. I've used them in the past on other sofas, but they wouldn't work very well on this one.