DIY Funky Leather Cuff Bracelet
Hi Everyone! Today I am going to show you how to make these fun leather cuff bracelets! I absolutely adore Spoonflower! For those of you unfamiliar with the company, they are a fantastic fabric printer where you can print your own fabric. I had tried them out around the holidays for my advent calendar. I was really happy with the printing and the linen cotton fabric that I had my designs printed on. I have been wanting to make some inspirational leather cuff bracelets for a while. I had originally thought of embroidering little sayings on them by hand, but it kills my fingers. So, I decided that it would be fun to get my little words printed on fabric and machine stitched onto the leather. You can easily make your own quotes or sayings by typing them up in a photo editing program to fit a whatever width you want your bracelets to be.
Here’s What You Need:
*Spoonflower Fabric
*Leather Scraps
*Heavy Duty Snaps
*Snap Assembly Tool
*Sewing Machine and Thread or Leather Needle and Embroidery Floss
Instructions:
The first thing you will need to do is prepare your fabric for printing. Decide how much fabric you wish to order and make your canvas in your photo editing program that size. For example if you’d like a fat quarter, you’d make your canvas 18×21″. Decide how tall you are going to make your cuffs and then size your fonts accordingly. I made my words between an inch and an inch and a quarter tall. Now you need to upload your design to spoonflower and order your fabric. The Spoonflower website has a great faq’s section with all kinds of how to info you can see here. Once you receive your fabric, cut out your words, leaving a little space around them for sewing. Now, measure out your cuff size and mark on your leather. I made my bracelets 8.5″ long by 1 to 2″ tall. You want to measure your wrist and then add an inch to the measurement to add space for the overlap for the snaps. Cut out your leather strips. Mark where you want the snaps to be. I marked mine about a half an inch inwards and centered on each end. Now you can add the snaps. Follow the directions on your package of snaps. Some tools are all in one. You can also buy the snaps as a kit with a little tool included. My tool required me to punch a hole on each end and then there was a little metal tap and a circular holder to fit the snap and then tap together with the metal tap and a hammer. Once your snaps are assembled, you are ready to sew on your patch. I used a little stitch witchery to hold my patch in place while stitching. You can topstitch around your patch on your machine, or hand stitch it with floss and a leather needle. Once your patch is stitched down, clip your threads and then you are finished. Pretty cool, right!
I love how these inspirational cuff bracelets turned out! They were unbelievably easy to make, and adding the spoonflower patch added a fun punch or style and sweetness. You could personalize them and customize them to suit your taste. They would make fantastic gifts too! If you’d like to get my word fabric you can find it through my spoonflower here. I hope you all will try your hand at a fun cuff! Make em’ for the whole family! They will love them!
Happy Crafting!
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These are so cute! Did you use a special needle in your sewing machine, or was the standard one ok for sewing through the leather?
Thanks Stephanie! I did use a leather needle for the machine. It is a lot easier than hand stitching too.
I love the bracelets that you created! So darling!! Just a few questions, first how do I find your word fabric, and can I order it to make these bracelets? Next what type of leather did you use? Where would you suggest is the best place to purchase it? I am thinking that my girls would love to make these this year at girls camp. I would love any tips or tricks or just information on making this a successful project for my girls. Thanks for sharing your talkents and creativity! My email address is onewildefamily (at) yahoo (dot) com
Sorry Brooke, I just saw this. I just sent you an email đŸ™‚
thank you so much for sharing technique…looking forward to sharing w/Skid Row LA arts enthusiasts…maybe we can get you to provide a virtual “HOW TO” guest appearance sometime?…jb
Thank you so much Judith! I would be honored to virtually guest appear sometime! That would be fun!
These are awesome! Which type of fabric did you use to print your words on? Thank you!
Thank you Beth! I used the linen cotton canvas for mine. I like the weight of it, and I feel like the printing is crisper, some of the less expensive cottons tend to look faded to me when they are printed. I have been consistantly happy with the linen cotton canvas and the interlock knit. Have fun!