stacked leather bracelets

So, are stacked bracelets fashionable? Or is it just my crafty desire to wear everything I make?  Either way, here are some of my own favorite leather bracelets.

But first, just a bit on the materials I used:

• Buttons- any size or shape will work, I just picked what I liked
• Leather- look for a soft high-quality leather that is pliable. You can soften leather before working with it by pulling it through your pinched fingers a couple times to remove the curl. If this hurts your fingers, string on a large center hole bead that doesn’t have rough edges and run the bead along the leather, scraping to soften the leather.
• Beads- any size you like will work but always, always, always coordinate the size of your leather with the size of your bead holes
• Spacers + Beads- any size you like will work, but again, and I can’t stress this enough, always coordinate the size of your leather with the size of your bead holes

Double strand sliding knot bracelet

About a year ago, I Pinned the bracelet on the left to my Pinterest “Crafternoons” board.  At the time, it retailed for $90.00.  My version above, cost only about $5.00 in materials to make.

You’ll need:

• 2 yards of 1.5 mm distressed brown leather (I’ve tried other leathers, but felt they were too stiff.  The distressed brown leather seems to work the best for me.)
• 32 – 4 mm beads with holds large enough to go over leather
• a clip board and tape to help hold everything down while knotting

1. Cut two lengths of leather about 24″ long each.  Slide 14 beads to the middle of one strand of leather and set aside.  Repeat for other piece. 
2. Making sure your beads are centered on the leather, tape both strands together near the end of the beads.  This holds it all together to make it easier to tie the other end.
3. On the end opposite the tape hold both strands together and tie an overhand knot right against the ends of the beads.  Remove tape and tie the other two strands together with another overhand knot.
4. Now, you are ready to make the sliding knot.  If you already know how to make a sliding knot, the rest is a breeze.  If not, here’s a link to sliding knot tutorial.  Sliding knots for bracelets are great because they are adjustable, but tying them off can be a bit tricky, so here’s what I do:

5.  After my final knot, I like to tie a knot on the under side, then stick the ends up into the open side areas of the knot just made and pull. (See above)  I’ve worn waxed cotton cord and distressed brown leather bracelets made in this manner and have had no problem with my ends working free.  However, I have tried a stiffer black and other brown leathers and could never get the ends to stay put.  (If I use thinner cording material such as waxed linen or hemp for sliding knots, I always put a dab of glue or E6000 on the knot to help it stay put.)

6.  Slide on end beads and tie a knot.  Try on.  If your tails are too long, re-tie the end beads higher up being careful to leave enough cord so you can remove the bracelet with ease.

Triple wrap leather bracelet with button

Here are complete instructions to make this triple wrap bracelet from one of my earlier posts. 

Triple strand sliding knot bracelet – here’s what I used:

• 3 or 4 yards of .5 mm brown distressed leather
• six 4 mm beads with holes large enough to go over the leather
• 3  feature beads with holes large enougth to go over the leather
• a clip board and tape to help hold everything down while knotting

1. Cut a single strand of leather about 1 yard long. Slide your feature bead onto the leather and locate it in the middle of your strand.  Tie a knot on either side of feature bead, securing it in place.  Repeat for the two other leather strands.
2. Hold all three finished strands together with the featured beads positioned where you like them and tape them all together to secure.
3. Holding all 3 strands together, tie two overhand knots, one on either side of the group of feature beads.
4. Finish bracelet by completing steps 4-6 from the directions above for the Double strand sliding knot bracelet.

Carnelian Bead Bracelet

Here are complete instructions to make this easy knot carnelian bead bracelet from one of my earlier posts.

Leather triple wrapped bracelet  This is the bracelet that got me into so much trouble.  It was the first leather wrapped bracelet I made, and I made it during a vacation to the Caribbean.  Needless to say, I was hooked.  Now I take a little tin of bracelet making tools and supplies with me on every vacation.  I used:

• 2 ply brown waxed Irish linen
• 2 yards 1.5 mm antique brown leather
• one 12mm bead for the clasp
• about 20″ of 4mm crystal cut beads
• collapsible eye needle

Here is a video link to a tutorial on making these leather wrapped bracelets.