How To Make DIY Leather Earrings From Repurposed Leather

This project is a bit different for me and not something I felt confident to tackle.

This month’s theme for the ‘Do It Over’ Designers challenge was to make something over with fabric.  The projects could be updating something with fabric or taking something like a thrift store dress and remaking it into something functional and creative.

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THIS POST IS PART OF THE ‘DO IT OVER’ DESIGNERS LINK PARTY.  A GROUP OF DESIGNERS WHO TAKE SOMETHING OLD AND/OR UNUSED AND ‘DO IT OVER’ INTO SOMETHING NEW. THESE ITEMS CAN BE FOUND IN CLOSETS, BARNS, GARAGES, YARD SALES, THRIFT STORES, YOU NAME IT!

 

 

Well, I didn’t have a thrift store dress to remake, or even an old pair of jeans to cut up.

What I do have in my craft room is lots of beautiful orange-colored real leather that was stripped off the headboard of a king bed many years ago when I worked full-time in hospitality design.

And it was going to be thrown away if I hadn’t asked to bring it home with me.

 

 

That was over 10 years ago and aside from just cutting off small strips for some Christmas ornament accents a few years ago, I haven’t found a project I felt confident enough to tackle using this rich lush leather.

Nor did I have the right tools I would need, like a sewing machine strong enough to sew through the leather or any other leather working tools that I have no idea what I would need in the first place.

So this month’s theme was a challenge for me.  I almost skipped the challenge this month because I couldn’t figure out what to make.

 

 

But there was this nagging little project I have considered for some time, that I just couldn’t get out of my mind.

Ever since I was given all of my mom’s jewelry-making supplies last year, I have been trying to find ways to use up what I can and maybe develop some new skills in the process.

The thought of making some simple leather earrings with her supplies just kept pulling me back to my craft room to stare at all that yardage of soft orange leather going to waste.

Without a lot of previous skills or knowledge on how to make DIY leather earrings, I opened up Pinterest and started trying to figure it out.

And I did this with the help of Cricut Design Space® and my new Cricut Joy Xtra™ machine.

 

 

 

Little did I know that with my monthly subscription to Cricut Design Space®, I could so easily select from over 9,000 premade cut files for leather earring designs for no extra cost.

I have used other templates before on Cricut Design Space®, but have never needed to search for images with the search words “leather earrings” or “faux leather earrings” before.  It was both exciting and overwhelming at the varied designs for leather earrings.

Of course, I planned to make some simple teardrop leather earrings out of a small piece of leather, but after seeing all of the free cut files available to me, I was able to choose several different designs and styles.  As you can expect, I decided on some retro and modern boho styles and made three pairs of earrings.

 

 

I must make a quick disclaimer here before I get too far into the steps I took to make these simple leather earrings. 

The Cricut Joy Xtra™ machine does not have a replacement blade to make deep cuts for thicker materials.  It only comes with a fine tip blade. Nor does it have a materials setting for leather.  You will need to create a custom materials selection in Design Space® for leather with at least a cut pressure of 320 and have it cut the shape 3 or 4 times to get through the leather, even faux leather. 

This is something I learned beforehand while attending a week of Cricut events on how to cut through faux leather. If you own a larger Cricut maker, or another brand of cutting machine, then you should be able to cut through thicker materials with a deep cut blade.

 

 

 

Using these settings for my Cricut Joy Xtra™, I was able to create a good clean cut template through most of the leather for the desired leather shapes for each pair of earrings, including the holes for the earring hooks.

Even though I measured the leather I planned to use and confirmed it wasn’t more than 2mm thick, I wasn’t able to cut completely through the higher grade of genuine leather I was using even with 4 cuts, at this setting.

 

 

To finish cutting them out, it required just a pair of sharp scissors to cut through the back covering of the leather.

This method worked out well to give me the different earring designs I wanted to make, without going out to purchase special tools, or to upgrade to a different cutting machine.

 

 

As I have mentioned before, I didn’t purchase anything to try out this easy DIY project before I started it.  So I don’t own a leather hole punch. Having a Cricut Joy Xtra™ that could start the holes in the leather for the earring hooks was a great way to avoid rushing to the craft store.

I am finding more and more that my mom’s stash of beads and jewelry-making supplies has yet to disappoint me in providing all types of small items I never expected to need, or even use, like these tiny gold rings.  They were the perfect size to connect the leather pieces for the earrings.

 

 

And no, I don’t have to wonder where I get my craft stash hoarding gene from!

After each piece of leather was cut out, and the small holes for the hooks pushed through with a pointed set of jewelry pliers, I just used a small set of needle nose pliers, and a curved set of jewelry pliers, to bend open the small gold rings and attached the leather shapes together for each different style of earrings.

 

 

The final step was to attach the earring post to the top of the earring with more gold rings.

 

 

On the first pair of earrings I made, I added the earring post through the top hole of the leather.  On the second earring style and the third, I added extra small gold rings through the hole in the leather and then added the earring post.  As I continue to make more of these, I will surely find different ways to make and embellish them. 

 

 

 

 

 

This turned out to be such an easy DIY project with surprising results.

This got me thinking, that different styles of these leather teardrop earrings would make great gifts for bridesmaids or girlfriends.  Mother’s Day is coming up.  And it would also be a fun project for a girl’s craft night.

 

 

 

Pin For Later

 

There are other solutions if you want to make some DIY leather earrings but don’t have a subscription to Cricut Design Space® or a cutting machine.  On Pinterest, I found lots of bloggers who shared a free SVG file for their projects, or a template to download to cut and trace the pattern on the back of the leather to cut out each piece of the earring styles using a pair of sharp scissors.

 

Another great tip I learned on Pinterest that came in handy.  Before putting real leather directly on the cutting mat which will make a mess when you pull it off, is to stick the leather to a piece of transfer tape cut to the same size first, back side of the leather on the sticky side. Then put the transfer tape, nonsticky side down on the mat to cut.  It will save you cleanup time getting the leather mess off the mat. 

 

 

If you are wondering what am I going to do with all that surplus leather, I have a few other projects in mind that need my attention.

Unfortunately, the leather is sewn together in sections with welt cording, and when it was removed (not by me) it was not cut off in one solid piece that will make it easy to repurpose back into a headboard.  Which is why I saved it from ending up in a dumpster in the first place.

Maybe a few more DIY leather earrings mixed with beads will be where I start.   Recently, I found a great tutorial for a leather bag on Pinterest after I made these earrings that is calling out to me try very soon.  Thankfully I also have my mom’s sewing machine to learn on.

 

 

Thanks for visiting my first attempt at making jewelry.  Please visit the other talented bloggers who joined this month’s ‘Do It Over’ Challenge.

Sum of Their Stories

Pandora’s Box

Color Me Thrifty

The Apple Street Cottage

Birdz of a Feather

Exquisitely Unremarkable

Little Vintage Cottage

Modern on Monticello

Purple Hues & Me

Southern Sunflowers

 

Hugs,

Ephesians 4:3 Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.