Hello darlings
when I first opened my etsy shop, I didn't really know many things about leather and how to handle it. It's not an easy material to handle I'll tell you that! Depending on the kind of leather, it's not always easy to cut, sew, manipulate and get a finished product you are proud of.
Today I am sharing some of the things I've learned from my years of "playing" with leather. I am going to show you how to turn your very own hand writing into a gorgeous embroidered leather cuff! Are you up for it?
What you'll need:
A piece of leather
A piece of paper
A good sharp pair of scissors (or leather scissors if you have them) or a chisel
A pen
Leather needle
Soap
Leather puncher
Eyelets and eyelet pincers
Thread
First cut a piece of paper that will resemble the width and length of your cuff. You can make it any size and shape you wish. I made one rectangular one and on with pointed ends. Outline the paper on the back of the leather piece using your soap bar.
The soap leaves a trace on the leather that doesn't make an indent on the right side of it.
You can now cut your leather either using your scissors...
...or your chisel (carefully!).
That's the two pieces I made.
Now take the piece of paper and put it on top the good side for the leather. Take your pen and write your word/quote/message. I always write chicky things like love! Press the pen a couple of times without moving the paper. Once you are done remove the paper. You should have a nice outline of the word on the leather.
Take your leather needle (don't try to do this with a regular needle, it will join your other unfinished projects for sure!!!!) and make holes following the word pattern. Try to space them out evenly so that your embroidery will be nice and smooth.
This will open the way into embroidering leather easier.
Now using your thread you can start embroidering.
Secure the thread with a simple knot.
Pass the needle from the first hole
You can use any kind of stitch you like. What I am showing you here is a simple fault proof stitch. Once you pass the needle from the first hole towards the good side of the leather you pass it back through the second hole. Then you pass if from the back side of the leather again towards the good side of it in the third hole. That way you have made a stitch that forms a kind of a dotted line.
Continue on with this manner until you reach the end of the word.
Now turn backwards and each new stitch you make will form the straight line of the word again. Like so:
Secure your thread in the back of the leather and cut it of.
You can literally write anything you want with this way! And it's totally your handwriting!
In order to make this into a cuff you want to make two holes at each end. You can measure and make sure they are even spaced or you can fold the leather in two and make one hole at each end.
Now you have your four holes ready!
Take your eyelets and their pincher.
Applying even pressure put them in place onto the four holes.
I thought I'd put a small bow on my cuff. Wanna know how I made it?
Cut a piece of leather about 3cm long and 1cm wide. Make sure to round the edges and make a small cut in the center of the leather giving it a kind of a germ shape.
With your thread and needle, make a stitch in the center of the leather.
Pinch the center of the leather and then round the thread some times to make it into a bow.
With the same thread secure it onto your leather cuff.
Take your thread and cut six pieces of 30cm each.
Take three of the strands and pass them through one hole of the cuff. Bend them into half and that way you'll have six strands.
Combine them by two and braid them into a simple braid.
Do this for all four holes. As soon as you reach your desired length (according to your hand) make a knot at the end of each braid.
Cut the thread. If you use a synthetic thread you can also burn the end carefully to avoid become undone.
The bracelet is ready!
I know this is not an easy project but it's worth it! You can use this technique to make anything you want with any kind of handwriting. It also makes a very sentimental gift to a loved one!
This bracelet is waiting for you to WIN IT! I am doing a giveaway with this on my instagram account but if you don't have an instagram account just follow me on bloglovin and leave a comment here and I will put your name in the draw!
Lot's of love
