Monday, January 15, 2018

Two Colorful Leather ID holders


With our department move last summer, we need access to doors using our campus ID cards. I made one for myself and recently two more for friends. 

First, I looked through my leather supply of scraps and larger pieces and found expressive embossed parts for the fronts. Thinking of my friends, I wanted a green and brown garden theme for one and a red flower theme for another.




Painting the raised designs with artist grade acrylic paints and a small paint brush, I then wiped off some excess paint and let them dry. Next was hand sewing the bottom section of metallic snaps. 


Experimenting with upholstery thread on a scrap leather piece, I used my new sewing machine with a size 18 needle. It looked good on the front and awful on the back, so I switched to a navy polyester thread, going very slowly. Encouraged with the results, I sewed the two holders together with good success. I still have a lot to learn about sewing a straight stitch, but I was happy with the results. 



For the red flower one, I selected a bit of embossed leather for the top flap with plain leather for the back.







On the green holder, I needed to hand stitch the top snap two different times until the snaps worked well. To hide the stitches showing on the top flap, I scrounged around for a button or such and found a small metal leaf with holes on both ends. It tied in well with the garden theme.




Later, I added two eyelets in the back and a length of leather cord so one of my friends could wear the ID holder around her neck.

Really loved the way these turned out! 


Monday, January 1, 2018

Happy New Year


Open Arms, Open Mind, Open Heart

7.25" x 9"
acrylics, watercolor crayons, markers, photograph