DIY and Crafts

Get crafty with these four easy projects using leather

Article by Your Home and Garden

Don’t be scared off by arts and crafts, these four projects with leather will give your home a stylish update without the need for a degree in DIY

1 Plant hangers

Cut 2 x 35cm squares of faux leather. With wrong side up, stick double-sided tape along each side of 1 square. Place the other square on top, wrong sides together. Cut rounded corners and sew around edges. Punch holes in corners and insert eyelets. Thread rope through and knot halfway up. Pop in potted plant and hang!

2 Hanging clock

Drill hole (to fit hands of clock mechanism) through centre of a round wooden tray. Mark the 3, 6, 9 and 12 o’clock positions and drill a generous hole through them. Staple either end of a leather strap at 9 and 3 o’clock and cover staples with a gold upholstery nail/tack. Insert clock mechanism through centre hole from back and attach hands.

3 Woven basket

Get cardboard box 25cm x 20cm x 15cm. Cut 5cm-wide strips with a craft knife from leather/faux leather offcut: 5 x 65cm strips, 4 x 70cm strips, 3 x 95cm strips. Line up 65cm strips on flat surface, right-side down, and tape down one end. Take each 70cm strip and weave across the 65cm strips to make woven rectangle.

Place box on rectangle. Take end of each strip and pull over top of box edges; secure with pegs. Take a 95cm strip and weave horizontally all around box base. Repeat with remaining strips to top of box. Unpeg each strip, pull to tighten and glue to inside of box. Overlap ends of horizontal strips and glue; hide joins under vertical strips.

4 Drawer pulls

Cut out 2 strips 12cm x 3.5cm from faux leather. Stick together, wrong sides touching, with double-sided tape. Sew around edges. Fix strip to drawer with 2 upholstery tacks. For door-pull, fold strip in half and fix to door with a single upholstery tack.

Photography by: Andrew Finlayson and James Henry.