By Sonya Nimri
Everyone’s got a leather skeleton or two in their closet: be it a patchwork leather coin purse, worn-through ballet flats that you may never wear again, or a mistake of fashion past like a gold leather mini-skirt. Now you can take these long-hidden hides and repurpose them into something fab, like this fashion-forward pair of earrings. It takes so little leather, you can make many pairs with whatever doomed leather good you happen to find. Or, if gold leather is not in your wardrobe, leather scraps are readily available at fabric stores. Plus, these suckers are so small you may even be able to make a pair with nothing more than a free sample swatch.
Materials
Brown Sharpie
5″ x 3″ scrap of gold leather
Needle and gold thread
Scissors
2 fishhook earrings
Fabric glue
Directions
Step 1: Cut approximately 16 golden leaves of varying sizes – two leaves in each size – so the earrings match. Mine are all 1″ long or smaller. I cut two 1″ leaves and a bunch of smaller ones to fan on each side of the larger leaves, then two more 1″ leaves for the top where the earring hooks attach. I didn’t make them all exactly the same because, as in nature, each leaf is one of a kind.
Step 2: Layer leaves starting with one large leaf at the bottom and overlapping smaller leaves in a fan.
Step 3: Stitch a knotted doubled golden thread through all of the leaves at the top of the grouping, reinforcing it a few times with multiple stitches.
Step 4: Add another 1″ leaf over the top of the grouping to cover the joining leaves. Stitch your thread through the bottom third of the leaf. Make sure this leaf is straight because this will also be the leaf that your fishhook is sewn into.
Step 5: Sew your fishhook to the back of the top leather leaf, making sure the top of the fish hook is near the top of the leaf. Sew up the length of the fishhook and make a secure knot, then trim.
Step 6: Outline each leaf with a brown Sharpie.
Step 7: Dab a little fabric glue to the backs of the leaves so they lay how you intend them to. Let dry and voila!
About the Author:
Sonya Nimri lives and crafts in a little house in Venice Beach, Calif. She is the author of two books: Beadalicious and Just for the Frill of It. Visit her at www.sonyastyle.com for lots of project ideas.
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