DIY leather goods

Leather is an excellent ornamental material. A lot of designer products can be made and sewn from such a soft and pleasant base: brooches, belts, original bracelets, hairpins, etc. Of course, all these handmade accessories can be purchased ready-made at the store. But it’s much more interesting to make them yourself. Let's look at what author's crafts and leather products do-it-yourself can be created.

to contents ↑

Skin Basics

Let's start with basic knowledge and concepts about this material, namely with the features of working with it:

• In the work you can use any skin and its small parts.
• Effectively remove stains from the surface of the skin using running water and a sponge.

Important! The use of stain removers or detergents is detrimental to the material, as they make the skin very rough, besides, brittle.

• If you need to soften the skin, increase its elasticity, treat the front side with glycerin.
• Various rivets, special clips and threads will help to connect the elements of leather products with each other. Seams are best done using a sewing machine, but be sure to choose only suitable needles so that the resulting holes are neat.
• Quality work can be done using special tools. Therefore, take care that there is at least a minimum of them: a hammer, punch, vise, tongs, etc.
• Cutting out leather elements is extremely convenient on a dense surface. For example, an ordinary cutting board is excellent for these purposes.
• From decorative ornaments for leather products, bright beads and beads, shiny rhinestones, sequins, metal clips, buttons and laces, etc. can be distinguished.
• To keep the edges of the skin smooth, treat them gently with fire.

Another important step in acquaintance with the work with the skin is to get acquainted with its types.

to contents ↑

Types of Genuine Leather

Like any material, leather has various types. It is classified by the quality of the dressing, it differs by the type of raw material, and the age of the animals is also of importance. The material has a dense front side and loose back, which is called bakhtarma.

So, what types of material can be distinguished, from which you can make leather crafts with your own hands:

1. Yuft. This type of material is made from the skins of pigs, horses or deer, which are impregnated with willow bark. In addition, this thick skin is processed with fat. Suitable for making shoes.
2. Chevro. This soft skin is made from goat skins. Chrome tanning makes the skin strong and supple, which is why it is used for the top of elegant women's shoes.
3. Suede. A popular type of leather made from the skins of goats, calves. The material is subjected to fat tanning. In the process of dressing the skin, the face layer of the skin is cut off. A feature of the material is its low pile, softness of fabric and high extensibility. Suede found its application in leather haberdashery and shoe manufacturing.
4. Chevret. Pretty loose skin made from sheep's skins. It also has good tensile properties. For its processing, chrome tannins were used. Suits and outerwear (various jackets and coats) are sewn from such leather.
5. Bearing. Elastic and soft skin material made from the skins of dairy calves.
6. Velours.Another type of leather with a pile surface, but unlike suede, this material is a little coarser, and a thick and even pile is slightly lower. In addition, chrome tanning of hides is used. Used for tailoring a coat.
7. Laika. Incredibly thin and soft skin, characterized by excellent elasticity. The hallmark of this skin are like gloves.
8. Morocco. Thin and soft skin obtained from the skins of goats, calves, foals or sheep. It is exposed to vegetable tanning.

Important! Most often, the skin of cattle is used for the production of leather, however, you can purchase more exclusive material: from the skins of snakes or lizards.

DIY handmade leather can be made from the remnants of leather things, the life of which has come to an end. For example, handbags, old gloves, bootlegs or belts. New pieces of leather for small gizmos can be bought at the atelier or leather company. Its cost will be low, since, in fact, these are scraps of material. For larger products, you will have to spend money and buy a whole piece of leather.

to contents ↑

How to apply old skin in work?

For small leather products with their own hands or miniature gizmos, as well as individual elements of the composition, old leather material can and should be used. Wallets, parts of boots, handbags - all this will fit for your creative ideas.

Step 1

First of all, cut the skin of the product at the seams. The front side of the skin is smooth and dense, glistens pleasantly, as it is most often covered with nitro-paint. We advise you to wash it or wipe it with soapy foam.

Important! It is impossible to wash leather products, since it is possible to wash off the substances of fat tanning of the material, then it will lose its appearance, begin to puff and sit down.

Step 2

Then rinse the product with salt water and vinegar. To do this, connect:

• One liter of water.
• 50 grams of table salt.
• One glass of 9 percent table vinegar.

Important! This mixture gives the skin elasticity. This characteristic can be improved by lubricating the surface with glycerin. After that, the old material will become quite suitable for leather products with their own hands.

Other ways to wash your skin are:

• Unboiled milk or coffee grounds. The only exception for the second remedy is white skin.
• But suede can be washed in warm water with washing powder with the addition of ammonia. If there are greasy spots on it, then refined gasoline, chloroform or another solvent will help get rid of them. Dip a piece of clean cloth in the liquid and wipe off any dirt.

Important! In order to make the pile look spectacular and like new, walk along the surface of the material with a rubber brush, fine emery paper or foam rubber. After that, rub the skin with this mixture:

• One glass of warm milk.
• One teaspoon of soda.

Step 3

Wet material must be stretched on any base, thick board or plywood sheet. Dry small parts under a press, placing them between dry pieces of fabric. After such procedures, the skin will gain a smooth and smooth surface.

And while the skin dries, treat it with one of the options for impregnation:

• Castor oil.
• A mixture of butter and warm water, plus a little ammonia.

Important! Thoroughly and gently cover the surface of the skin with the composition. This is best done with a soft brush or a dense cotton swab. Remove excess with a clean cloth.

As a result, you will get a great base for crafts. What can be done from pieces of skin? Cute accessories and little things: a keychain, stylish jewelry, jewelry, etc. And the remnants of leather are interestingly used in the design of premises in the form of original accessories: handles for drawers, leather strips can be used as mounts for shelves, handles for wooden boxes for storage.

to contents ↑

Essential leather tools

There are a great many of them among professionals.However, if you plan to make leather crafts with your own hands for beginners, then only a few of them will be enough.

Important! In the process of your creative activity, you will replenish your set of tools, as experience will prompt the most practical and convenient means at hand.

You can select the following tools for working with skin, which are definitely useful to you initially:

• Scissors. Stocking should be of several types. For small parts made of thin fabric, manicure is perfect, and for larger elements of dense leather - tailoring. To shape the serrated edge, curly zigzag scissors will help.

Important! Scissors should be sharpened sharply to cut the skin, and not crinkle it.

• Awl. Designed for stitching product parts.
• Hammer. It is necessary for punching holes in the material, drawing a pattern and installing rivets.
• Ruler. It is optimal if it is metal, as it is necessary for an even cut of the edges. In addition, using a knife and such a ruler, you can cut cords or parts from straight lines.
• Substrate. It is useful if you are cutting parts with a knife, as well as if you are carrying out actions with power use. An example would be a wooden board, a plexiglass plate, a thick rubber sheet.
• Punches. With the help of such tools, holes in the skin of the desired diameter are punched. The principle of their action is quite simple: the tool is applied vertically to the skin and hit the other end with a hammer.
• Curly stamps. The purpose of such tools is to create patterns on the surface of the skin, which can be various geometric shapes or ornaments. The technique is the same as for punches: striking a stamp. Most often they are made of metal or solid wood. You can make a stamp yourself. To do this, take the nail and turn it with the hat down. Round drawings are ready for use. And also with the help of a file you can give another shape: a square, a rhombus, etc.

Important! For a more embellished ornament, place a soft substrate under the skin: felt or a piece of linoleum.

• Ball pen. With its help, it is convenient to apply a drawing to the skin or pattern. It is necessary to draw from the wrong side.

These tools will be enough to make needlework made of leather with your own hands become one of your favorite pastimes.

to contents ↑

Master class with video - a convenient method of self-learning

DIY leather goods - a master class for beginners and more experienced craftswomen. You will be able to choose the most suitable option and embody your own creative ideas in it. So, let's learn how to do copyrighted things, and here are some of them.

Simple and stylish necklace

To create a leather decoration, prepare the following tools:

• Revolving hole punch.
• Glue.
• Sharp scissors.
• A cut of skin.

The creation process consists of the following steps:

1. We cut out a number of triangles from the skin with scissors - their shape and size can be different. So your decoration will look more interesting.
2. Then, using glue, connect all the elements together in a chaotic creative mess - as your imagination and sense of taste will tell you.
3. Wait for the glue to dry completely.
4. After that, in the resulting blank on the edges, make two holes and pass through them a chain or a decorative lace.
5. Fasten and wear your jewelry with pleasure.

Leather earrings

Another interesting DIY leather crafts for beginners, for which you will need:

• Leather. Desirable, painted in bright colors.
• The basis for earrings in the form of carnations.
• Glue and scissors.

The creation process itself is quite simple and fast:

1. Define the design of your earrings, and then use the scissors to cut the desired shape. They can be arbitrary or geometric.
2. We attach each of the elements to the hat-base of the earring.
3. We wait a certain period of time until the glue dries.

You are the happy owner of new earrings!

Keychain and vase for keys made of leather

This unusual kit will become an incredibly practical and stylish product. In addition, such gifts made of leather with their own hands will surprise with their originality.

You will need the following things:

• A piece of leather.
• Sharp scissors and clerical knife.
• 6 rivets.
• Key ring.

The steps for creating a turnkey vase:

1. Cut a rectangle from the skin. Define the parameters yourself - it can be a vase of neat size only for storing keys, but you can make it wider to add some more little things.
2. Clamp one corner and make a hole in it. To do this, you can use a hole punch or a sharp knife, and even a nail. Insert the rivet.
3. We do the same manipulations with the remaining angles.

The vase is ready!

Now we turn to the manufacture of the keychain:

1. We cut out a small rectangle from the skin, and on one side of it we leave a horizontal strip about 1 cm wide. It turns out a kind of rectangle with a tail.
2. We bend this section in half and fix it with a rivet, this way we get a loop.
3. Using a ruler and a pencil, draw lines on the surface of the rectangle along which we cut the fringe with scissors, not reaching the edge of the material about 1-1.5 cm.
4. We twist the obtained fringe around the loop, fasten the whole structure with glue.
5. The last step: we pass through the loop a key ring, chain or decorative cord.

Important! Such an elegant keychain can be used not only for storing keys, but also for decorating a handbag.

Bow for hair

You need the following materials:

• Skin stripes.
• Thin wire.
• Plain elastic for hair.
• Scissors with a ruler.

So what do we do:

1. Ruler draw a strip on a piece of skin. Length - about 40 cm and width - 4 cm. Cut.
2. Sharpen both ends of the strip with scissors.
3. Attach a leather strip to an elastic band, and fasten them together with a wire. In this case, the elastic should be placed in the middle of the leather tape.
4. Tie your hair as usual with an elastic band, and wrap the leather ribbon around the tail, gracefully shape the bow.

Stylish do-it-yourself leather clutch

A bag is an accessory of every young lady, and how nice it is if you created such a product yourself. All will certainly pay close attention to your handbag. That is why needlework made of leather with your own hands is so necessary!

We begin the process by preparing the necessary materials:

• A cut of skin of the required size and color.
• Scissors and office knife.
• Clips.
• Flat plate.
• Sewing machine and needles of the appropriate size, nylon threads are also needed.

The sequence of the creative process:

• From a piece of leather, cut a rectangle measuring 40 by 28 cm.
• We begin the design of the front of the clutch. How it's done? Cut pieces on the sides of the rectangle 12 cm long and 1.5 cm wide. The lines should be smooth.
• Now we attach a regular plate to the top of the product and mark the lines of roundness, along which we cut off the excess.

Important! Such rounded sections should be made as symmetrical as possible.

• The following actions: bend the bottom of the bag to the places of smooth cuts on the sides of the product. Fasten the junction with clips.
• We sew the seams along the edges of the bag on a sewing machine. We remove the clamps.
• We turn the bag on the front side.
• We bend the upper part of the workpiece, at a distance from the edge of about 2.5 cm, we make a small longitudinal section.
• Now we need a separate piece of skin, from which we cut out a strip of material 70 cm long and 1-1.5 cm wide.
• We tie one end into a knot, and thread the opposite into the hole on the bag.
• Surplus stripes gracefully wrap around the clutch and tie a bow or a beautiful knot.

Leather flower

What can be done from pieces of skin? Incredibly beautiful rose!

You need:

• Leather.
• Glue.
• Candle.
• Ball pen.

Manufacturing steps:

1. On the wrong side of the skin, draw with a pen 10 rose petals small and large, and cut out the details.
2. Above the candle fire we burn elements. You need to keep the skin with bakhtarma down.Hold the petals with a clamp or tweezers. In the process of processing fire parts are slightly bent inward.
3. Apply glue to the inside of the petal and turn it into a roll. So it turned out the core of the flower.
4. We apply glue to the next element and connect it to the middle. The petal must “hug” her.
5. And now we gradually paste over the bud obtained with petals. We start with small elements, and then move on to large ones.

Important! Place the rose petals on the same level. To create an even more spectacular appearance of the flower, sprinkle its surface with a shiny spray.

Leather belts

Such accessories are used by men, women and children. Therefore, gifts made of leather with their own hands in this design will be very useful.

For production you need:

• Strip of leather.
• Rivet or button.
• Sharp scissors.
• Clerical or carved knife.

And now the manufacturing sequence:

1. Determine the length of the belt, for which wrap a strip of material around the waist and mark the intersection of the two ends. You can even make it a little longer.
2. Make a rivet hole in the designated area.
3. Make a small incision with a knife about 5-6 mm in size. Then the rivet will go right through.
4. If you want, you can make the ends of the belt rounded, just give them a smooth shape with scissors.

The original belt is ready!

Or another version of such a leather product with your own hands. To make it you will need:

• Hammer.
• A sharp knife, you can apply clerical.
• Strip of skin.
• Two rivets.
• D-shaped metal ring

Getting started:

1. Cut off a strip of leather of the required length, and the width of the belt should coincide with the width of the ring.
2. Mark the location of the rivets, make four holes.
3. We pass one end of our belt through the D-shaped ring, and then install the rivets with a hammer.

So simply and quickly you can make original leather accessories that are especially exclusive.

to contents ↑

Stock footage

Do-it-yourself leather needlework is an incredibly creative and entertaining process. You will love to create unique accessories and things in the style of hand-made. In addition, currently such products are at the peak of popularity. Do-it-yourself leather gifts will amaze your loved ones and friends, and your efforts will be appreciated.