Q&A: Black Dye Coming Off

Q:  "I recently used Fiebing’s Pro Dye (black) on some veg tan leather. Two weeks ago. I’m still getting black dye on my hands after stitching it.

Could you recommend some kind of sealer to use so the dye doesn’t come off on my clothes?"

A:  There is probably a few steps to take:

1. Make sure your leather is clean and dry before applying the dye.   Do NOT oil the leather before dyeing - separate blog post talks about that.
2. Once the dye has been applied, let it dry, and then buff it thoroughly - sheep wool remnants or cotton T-shirt works well for this.
3. At this point conditioning the leather with something like Dr Jackson's Hide Rejuvenator or Dubbin should work well.
4. You can also, instead, seal the leather with a water-based acrylic sealer, like NeatLac or Eco-Flo Top Finish.

My own goto colors that I know will never come off on clothing, is the square bottle Eco-Flow Water Stain.  If applied properly on very clean dry leather, the color will not come off.