Dempsey’s Custom Sewing Upholstery shop in located in Berwick it is owned and operated by two great people Bill and Julie. You can check out their shop and some of their work here. These folks always think of me when it comes to leftover leather scraps and fabric/discontinued fabric books. Now to most, these remnants are nothing more that garbage, but Julie knows there is potential so she passes them on with hope of them becoming something else. I think these leather scraps are great, even if they are only a snippets, I would never otherwise have my hands on fabric that costs a few hundred dollars a meter.
I had some time this past weekend (thanks to my mom) to poke around the sewing machine. I managed to come up with 10 little projects to make with leather scraps. None of these projects are ‘call the newspaper’ ideas, most you’ve seen before, but what is great about them is I didn’t spend a dime (especially because I was at moms so I was using her thread!) I also used no special tools. Scissors, sewing machine with a blue jean needle, thread, pen, and ruler.
Here we go:
10 Fun Projects to Make with Leather Scraps
1. Leather Baby Slippers
the photos would be much sweeter if they were on little feet, but my baby is too big for these booties, so I had to improvise.
2. Leather Luggage Tag
for the plastic window I used the front page of one of the fabric sample books, but a overhead projector sheet would work good too.
3. Leather Credit or Debit Card Purse
the button is from my moms stash, she said it was actually from a old school bra.
4. Business Card Holder
I used spray adhesive to hold the fabric in place before I sewed it on.
5. Leather Hair Band
I’m not much into wearing hairbands but this one seemed to stay in place quite well with the rough side against my hair.
6. Personalized Kids Leather Tool Belt
My nephews birthday is this week, so this project was double duty.
7. iPod/ iPhone Leather Case
I think I’ll put this one to good use.
8. Leather Photo Book
Ruby loves to look at photos, and have some to keep, so I though this would be perfect. It is soft, and she can rip or wrinkle the pics.
9. Leather Bracelet
This is just a short version of the hair band, but so cute that they were in production before I left the sew machine.
10. Leather Stroller Bag
I bought my stroller second hand, and a few of the pieces are missing. There is no place to set anything. I must credit my sister BJ for this idea.
These projects to make with leather scraps were all fairly easy. I hope this post got the wheels turning if you have any leather scraps lying around (if not I see pieces at thrift stores often). I was fortunate that the samples already had the grommets on them, but you can buy a grommet kit at most fabric stores. Hope you enjoyed these.
Happy crafting!
Virginia
Love the idea of the luggage tags, and the headband! I don’t think I have any leather scraps that would be big enough for a hairband at the moment, but I’ll keep my eyes open for one.
I’ve got a leather tooling kit in storage right now that I need to dig out and play around with again, too. I’ve got a lot of scrap pieces of leather, and a couple of people have inquired into me making them bookmarks with their initials or names tooled in. That’s another idea for using up some scraps.
ooo.. bookmarks good one, I’ve got some readers on my gifts list! For the head band I actually used two short pieces there is a seam at the back of your head. Thanks for looking. V
Virginia, you are BRILLIANT – I’m not surprised your mother had a hand in this!!!
How about remote control holders and magnetic picture frames to spiff up the front of my…..errrr the fridge!!!
…and a ponytail cover!
GREAT ideas!! I’ll have to maybe up the anti to 15, someone else suggested bookmarks
ok, you are amazing. That tool belt is fanTABulous!! And I love the debit card wallet. I friggin love reading this blog, despite my own craft skills being pretty limited. I can’t WAIT to see you this summer! Love!
Thanks so much Sal, I’m actually really enjoying doing this, despite my own writing/grammar skills! Looking forward to see yous too!
How fantastic! Love all your great ideas!
Thanks for all the great ideas! 🙂
Thanks to sharing ideas….
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