DIY Embroidered Leather Wrist Watch

 First of all I just want to say a thanks for the kind comments on yesterday's post. I was a bit nervous to publish it, because, well, doing your money laundry in public is kind of scary, but I really feel it's a topic that should be discussed more. I truly appreciate your support!

Today is a new day and I have an epic DIY to share. It's one of those projects where I made something as gift, and it came out so awesome I knew I needed to turn it into a tutorial. But then it took me like a year to get it done. It's ok, though, because there's never too late share a DIY. 

I made the first version of this watch for my friend Petra. I was in love with that watch! I'm going to share pictures of it tomorrow, so you can all admire it in all it's glory (so, please don't break my heart if you don't think it's as awesome as I do). 

Making handmade wrist watches is actually not as hard as I thought at first, and it's even easier, if you make it out of an old watch that comes with all the metal parts, which are the hardest to source. Which is why I chose to make this one from a pre-made wrist watch. This way you have all the necessary parts, and a quick template for the wrist-band as well. 

This tutorial has about a million steps, but don't feel discouraged. It's actually not that hard. I could show you in 5 minutes in person, but since I can't do that, I have to rely on pictures to make it easy for you. So, I've laid out all the steps to make the process as clear as possible.

 You will need:

• Thick (about 2mm) (faux) leather scraps (some fabric stores sell industry left-over leather scraps, which is where I got mine)
• Wrist watch (c/o Pandahall)
• Embroidery thread
• Embroidery needle
• Crop-a-dile/ hole punch/ awl
• Rotary cutter/ carpentry knife (optional)
• Scissors
• Paper
• Ruler and pencil
• Colored pencils
• E6000 glue

1. Lay the watch down on paper and trace it with a pencil. 

2. Draw a rectangle around the watch according to the markings on the picture above. make sure that the watch template line is in the center of the rectangle both vertically and horizontally. Also, mark a line 1cm from the sides of the rectangle. That's where the cutting line for the wrist band will be.

3. Cut out the rectangle, and round the corners with a coin.

4. Dot the template with dots that are 1cm apart on the long side, and 0.5cm apart on the short side. Add additional dots to the center (one dot on each side of the watch head), and four dots at the end on each side (2 on each side of the wrist band).

5. Punch holes through all the dots with the smallest end of the hole punch/crop-a-dile, or an awl.

6. & 7. Use coloring pencils to draw your design to the template. This will make embroidery so much easier later on, and let's you get a clearer vision of what it's going to look like.

8. Use the template to cut out a corresponding piece of leather. Set that aside for now.

If you like the wrist band of your watch as it is, not need to make a new one, just skip this part.

9. Take the old watch and cut off the wrist band as close to the head as possible. Also, cut off the buckle.

10. Use the long side of the old wrist band to cut out a new one. Make sure to add extra length for the fold.

11. Mark the holes onto the new wrist band through the old one, and use the hole punch to punch new holes.

12. Cut the end you're going to attach to the watch head slightly narrower, and feed it through the slit of the watch head.

13. Add a tab of glue to the end and glue the fold shut.

14. Cut the other side of the wrist band, making sure to add length to both ends for folding.

15. Make a hole in the center of the band about 2cm from one end of the new band. Cut the tip a bitt narrower. 

16. Feed it through the buckle, and put the needle through the hole. Glue the end to the backside of the band. Attach this side of the wrist band to the watch head the same way you did with the other side.

Now you have yourself a new watch base. Looks much better already, right?

17. Take the piece of leather you cut earlier and place the template on top of it.

18. Cut lines the width of the wrist band right beside the watch head, and at the 1cm line you drew on the sides. (those are the straight pencil lines that go across the wrist band in the first picture). 

Punch through all the template holes. Once you've got the markings in, you can take off the template, and finish the job. It took me quite a while of stabbing to get through all the holes.

19. Start embroidering! Finally, right? I suggest going by color. So take one color thread, and do all the embroidery in that color. then switch. 

to secure the start of the thread, make a not to the backside after the first stitch. End with another not around the last stitch.

20. -23. Add layer after layer of thread. if you like the result at any point, you can also stop. No shame in changing your design half way through. Or, you could go with just one color. That would look awesome, too.

24. Finally, feed the wrist band of the watch through the slits. Tadaa! Almost done.... 

To keep the long end of the wrist band tangling, cut a narrow strip of leather, wrap it around the buckle side of the wrist band, cut to size (leaving room to feed the other end of the wrist band through), and close up with a bit of thread. Now your done.

Whew! That was a lot of steps, right. Honestly, it took me about three times as long to write this tutorial, as it took me to make the watch. I don't think I've ever had a tutorial with sooooo many pictures. But, I hope it was worth it.

 

Do you like it? I love it!

As my next B-school payment is coming up, I'm putting this beauty up for adoption. So, If you'd like to get yourself this watch, you can participate in the auction I'm having right here. Click and make your bid.The bidding starts at 25$ (not including shipping). The auction ends on Thursday, 5th of March, at 9pm Central European Time.

That's a wrap for today!

xo. Hanna

The watch used for this tutorila was provided to me by PandaHall. All ideas and awesomeness are my own.

DIY Painted Wooden Beads necklace

Although I love the statement necklace trend, I don't own very many. When it comes to jewelry, I'm more of a earrings type. I don't wear necklaces nearly as often as I'd like to. And, I think part of the problem is that I don't like spending money on trendy jewelry that might not get as much wear or might go out of fashion next year. So, I thought I'd make myself a necklace that would be bold enough to make a statement yet subtle enough for my taste.

 This necklace is super simple to make. You don't even need fancy jewelry making equipment to create it. Just a few beads and nail polish is about it.

Supplies:

• 3 wooden beads (1 with a diameter of 3cm, and 2 with 2.5cm)
• Nail polish in the color of your choice
• Tooth picks
• Shot glasses or somewhere to hang the beads to dry
• necklace chain (as long as you want the necklace to be)
• hook-eye closure
• 2 small 5mm connection rings
• /or buy a ready made chain necklace

 STEP 1
Choose three bold nail polish colors for your necklace design. I chose teal, orange red and turquoise.

 Insert a tooth pick through one of the beads and start painting half of the bead in the first color. Once you're done, set it on the shot glass to dry.
Repeat with the other two beads and nail polish colors.

 STEP 3
Pull one of the connection rings open, insert the hook closure and one end of the chain, and push it back closed. Then, take the other connection ring, pull it open and insert the other end of the chain, close the ring.
You can skip this step if you use a ready-made chain necklace.

STEP 4
Once the beads have dried, pull the chain necklace though the beads, and you're done!

Wasn't it simple? Sometimes, describing the making process is so much more difficult than the making itself.

I've gotten a lot of wear out of my necklace already, so I'm thinking about making another variation, maybe this time in metallics and black. We'll see...

Happy making!

xo. Hanna

DIY 5-minute statement necklace over at OEH

I have another tutorial up over at Oh Everything Handmade. This time it's a 5-minute statement necklace. I kid you not, it really honestly takes only 5 minutes to make. Go and have a look!

Style your own statement necklace

When we were putting together this outfit with Mari Krõõt, we realized neither of us had the perfect statement necklace to go with it, so Mari Krõõt figured out this clever solution. You could just turn your other necklaces and brooches into a stunning statement piece, and what's even better, you can customize it and re-create it whenever and however you want. It just takes a little bit of imagination!

We used 2 necklaces, one bracelet and a brooch to create my statement piece. I love how it turned out! Makes me want to try other combinations from my existing accessories. 

Happy creating!

DIY Red Waterfall Earrings

It's been a while since I last posted a jewelry tutorial, so I'd say this one's been long overdue. I haven't really made much jewelry at all lately, but thankfully my friend Ann asked me to make her a pair of red earrings for fancy occasions (that is not to say you can't wear these every day). And they are very easy to make -  a perfect project for someone taking their first steps in jewelry making.

This is what you'll need:

1. round nosed pliers
2. wire cutters
3. jewelry wire (I used 0.6mm wire)
4. earrings hooks
5. about 5-6cm of chain or enough to fit all your beads
6. 2 large glass beads
7. smaller beads in different shades (I used 10 per earring)

The steps are pretty self-explanatory. First attach the large bead to the earring hook. Then attach the chain to the large bead. And finally attach all the smaller beads to the chain. This is where you can play around. You could use different sized and color beads, and attach more than 1-2 beads per chain loop. Experiment a little and see what you like best. There are so many possibilities for variation.

I'm so glad Ann loved her new earrings. I think I might have to create something similar for myself as well. They do look gorgeous!

Long Statement Earrings DIY

My concert outfit was entirely self-made. I made my dress, I did my own hair, and I also made my own jewelry. These are the earrings I made for this special occasion. Since the dress has a lot of sparkling around the neckline, the only other piece of jewelry I added was a pair of earrings. And I wanted the earrings to compliment the dress.

I'm very happy with the result, so I thought I'd share the process with you in case you'd like to make yourself a pair of fabulous earrings.

Here's what you need:

1. 2 big rhinestones that have sewing holes.
2. Beads -  I used 2 different kind, smaller transparent ones, and bigger metallic grey ones
3. Fishing cord - mine was a size 30, what ever that means :)
4. 2 earring studs
5. Bead stoppers - again, I used bigger ones for securing the cords, and smaller ones for the beads
6. Flat-nosed pliers
7. Super glue

The process is rather simple:
1. Cut 3 strands (you could use more or less, 3 will give you 6 bead strands in the end) of fishing cord about 20cm each. Put them together and pull them half way through one of the sewing holes on the rhinestones.
2. Fold the cords in half so that you'll get 6 strands in your hand.
3. Pull the 6 strands through one bead stopper and secure it as close to the rhinestone as possible.
4. Start beading the strands. Add a bead and then secure a bead stopper after it.
5. I differentiated between the order of the beads and their distance, and also their number, so that some of the strands ended up shorter than the others. Just cut the cord ends about 1 cm from the last bead stopper.
6. Lastly glue a stud onto the back of the rhinestone, let dry, and you're done.

Enjoy making yourself a pair of statement earrings!