Leather is probably not the first material that comes to mind when decorating for the holidays. But leather has several properties that merit a second look—it’s strong, durable, flexible and amazingly versatile. Leather is used for a wide variety of items including furniture upholstery, car seats, saddles, footwear, clothing, handbags, luggage, bookbinding, jewelry and sports equipment. After the success of my camera bag, see My First Leathercrafting Project blog post, I decided to experiment with a few, small leather Christmas ornaments.
I’m really pleased with how this red leather snowflake turned out!
This pretty ornament takes a cue from the traditional snowflakes children make with paper and paste. But unlike a paper snowflake, this leather snowflake will maintain its shape and last for many years. This leather snowflake isn’t quite child’s play but it is easy to make with the step-by-step instructions and download template provided in this post. Why not give it a try?
Supplies Needed
. Template: Download Red Leather Snowflake Ornament – Complimentary Download to print the template.
. Paper: A few sheets of white paper for printing template.
. Leather: FOUR 4” x 4” squares of 2 oz/ 0.8 mm leather See Step 1 for specifics and suggestions.
. Waxed Braided Cord: About 5 feet. I chose red to match the red leather.
. Beads: SIXTEEN 6/0 glass seed beads. I chose clear crystal luster beads from Bead Treasures.
Equipment and Tools Needed
. Scissors: To cut leather and paper.
. Contact Cement: To glue leather. I used Weldwood Contact Cement.
. Printer: To print template.
. Marker or Pen: I was pleased to discover my favorite Pilot FriXion marker leaves a clear line on leather and, most importantly, can be completely erased from the smooth surface.
. Clips: To hold paper template and leather together. Binder or bulldog clips will work fine but I prefer Clover Wonder Clips because the flat bottoms keep materials flat. Wonder Clips are typically found with quilting tools and materials.
. Awl: To pierce and stretch holes in leather. An awl, such as the Craftool Scratch Awl sold by Tandy Leather, is ideal but a sharp-pointed ice pick or heavy darning needle will also work.
. Heavy Plastic Surface (optional): To work on when piercing leather. Tandy Leather’s Poly Cutting Board is ideal but a plastic cutting board could work as well.
. Needle: To stitch the leather. A Leather Stitching Needle is ideal but any needle with a blunt point and an eye large enough to hold the waxed braided cord will work.
. Thimble (optional)
Step 1 – Select Leather The trick to making these leather ornaments is to choose leather that will bend easily meaning you want leather that’s about the thickness used for garments not belts. I repurposed an old red leather jacket for my ornaments. Alternatively, you might try Cricut’s craft leather sheets, Mirage Craft Cut sheets from Tandy Leather, or leather scraps from online leather sellers such as TheLeatherGuy or Springfield Leather. These products are available in a variety of colors and finishes. As illustrated in the photo below, the red leather from my jacket has a weight/ thickness of 2 oz. /0.8 mm.
Step 2 – Prepare Leather In order to hide the rough side of the leather, I glued together two pieces of leather, back to back, using Weldwood Contact Cement. It’s much easier to glue your pieces of leather together BEFORE cutting them to size. Please take note of the manufacturer’s safety precautions including working in a well ventilated area. Apply the contact cement to the back of one piece ensuring complete coverage. Then gently lay the back of the other piece onto the glued surface smoothing it out carefully. Take care not to get contact cement on the front side of the leather. Alternatively, you could choose to let the rough side of the leather show and use only a single layer.
After the contact cement has dried, cut TWO 4” x 4” squares of your leather. I found it easiest to mark my cutting lines on the leather with a Pilot FriXion marker and then cut inside the lines. I carefully erased any remaining lines with the marker’s eraser.
Step 3 – Print Pattern Download the Red Leather Snowflake Ornament – Complimentary Download and print the template. Take care to ensure the scale is accurate on your printed version. See specifics in the download document. Print TWO copies. Trim around the outside of the paper squares.
Step 4 – Cut Leather Align the paper square template with one of the leather squares. Use clips to hold it in place. As noted in the Supplies Needed section, I prefer Clover Wonder Clips because they allow the squares to remain flat. Use scissors to cut the leather.
This should result in TWO crosses of leather similar to those shown below.
Step 5 – Pierce Leather Align the paper template with one of the leather crosses and use clips to hold in place. Use an awl to pierce one of the holes at the end of a cross piece. Do NOT yet pierce the center holes. It’s helpful to have a thick plastic surface to press the awl down into. After piercing the leather, gently slide the awl into the hole to stretch out the leather. Repeat for the remainder of holes at the ends of the cross pieces.
Both crosses need four holes at their centers. But it’s important to note the hole placement is not the same on the two crosses. On one cross, pierce four holes at the dots marked on the template. On the other cross, pierce four holes at the Xs marked on the template.
Step 6 – Stitch Snowflake Center The two leather crosses are stitched together with a large cross stitch embellished with glass seed beads. Lay the two leather crosses, right sides up, on your working surface as shown in the below photo. Align the 4 center holes. Thread a needle with about 8” of waxed braided cord. Insert the needle into one of the holes at the back. Leave a thread tail of about 2”. Pull the threaded needle up through the set of holes from the back to the front.
Temporarily, remove the needle from the cord. Slide 3 glass beads onto the cord. Re-thread the needle with the cord. If you’re lucky the glass beads will slide over your threaded needle and you won’t need to remove the needle for this step.
Insert the threaded needle into the opposite hole (diagonally across from the first one) and pull the needle down through the set of holes from the front to the back. Gently pull the cord tight ensuring the the row of beads are snug against the leather. Make the second stitch in the same way, bringing the threaded needle back up through another set of holes. Temporarily, remove the needle from the cord. Slide 5 glass beads onto the cord, re-thread the needle and pull it down to the back.
Gently pull the cord tight ensuring the second row of beads sits smoothly over the first row of beads. Secure the cord at the back by inserting the needle into the beginning cord tail (as close to the leather as possible) and pulling the cord through. Then pull the cord ends tight, tie a small knot and snip off the ends. The front and back should look like this.
Step 7 – Stitch Snowflake Points The next step is to make the points on the snowflake. I mocked up a paper snowflake in two colors—aqua and mauve—to show this step more clearly. Notice how the aqua cross sits on top of the mauve cross and the two colors are woven into eight points.
Each point is made by stacking and stitching 3 spokes together. As shown in the below graphic, start with a center aqua spoke (#1) and bring your threaded needle up from the back. Next pick up the first mauve spoke to the left (#2), flip over the end and bring your needle up from the back. Then pick up the first mauve spoke to the right (#3), flip over the end and bring your needle up from the back. Pull your threaded needle to the front, slip on a glass bead and pass your needle back through the same holes. Align the 3 tips, squaring the ends and gently pull the thread tight. Then tie a knot at the back and snip the threads. Move on to the next center aqua spoke and repeat the process 3 more times. At this point, the snowflake should look as shown in the top right.
The next step is to make points with the mauve spokes at the center. As shown in the below graphic, start with a center mauve spoke (#1) bringing your threaded needle up from the back. Next pick up the first aqua spoke to the left (#2), flip over the end and bring your needle up from the back. Then pick up the first aqua spoke to the right (#3), flip over the end and bring your needle up from the back. Notice the aqua spokes pass through the points you stitched in the first round. Finish the stitch in the same way as the previous stitches. Repeat for the remaining 3 sets of spokes. At this point, the snowflake should look as shown in the top right.
The same process is used to make the leather snowflake. The top leather cross replaces the aqua paper cross and the bottom leather cross replaces the mauve paper cross. Follow the steps as outlined above simply substituting the relevant leather spokes for the paper ones. Use about 6” of cord and 1 glass bead to stitch each point.
If you find it difficult to pull the threaded needle through the holes in the leather, gently wiggle the needle while pulling it through. If the problem persists, use the awl to carefully enlarge the hole. A thimble could also come in handy. As before, you may need to remove your needle to slip the glass bead onto the cord. After threading the 3 spokes, take care to align the 3 tips and shape the spokes into a plump point.
Secure the cord at the back by inserting the needle into the beginning cord tail (as close to the leather as possible) and pulling the cord through.
Then pull the cord ends tight, tie a small knot and snip off the ends. Stitch all 8 points.
Step 8 – Attach Hanger
The final step is to add a hanger or tie to your new leather snowflake. You could simply tie a short length of waxed cord to one of the snowflake points. Or you might prefer to use a length of ribbon, a strip of leather or a piece of clear fishing line.
Your new leather snowflake is ready! It looks lovely on the Christmas tree but it would also make a gorgeous gift topper.
More Info
You can download the project template here: Red Leather Snowflake Ornament – Complimentary Download.
Please pin this image to share or save for future reference.
You can learn more about working with leather in my previous post My First Leathercrafting Project.
Check out the post 8 Tips to Jazz Up Your Gift Wrapping including how to use gift toppers.
I used several products from Tandy Leather to make this project. But there are other highly regarded online vendors who specialize in leather including TheLeatherGuy and Springfield Leather.
Today’s Takeaways
1. Leather is an unexpected choice for holiday decorating.
2. Leather is strong, durable, flexible and amazingly versatile.
3. Consider making your own leather ornament following the tutorial in today’s post.
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In keeping with the bird theme, the below photo was my favorite from a visit to Swan Lake Iris Gardens back in May. This park, in Sumter, South Carolina, is home to all eight known species of swan. This is a Black Swan (Cygnus atratus). There’s a fascinating story about black swans that I first shared in my blog post 
3. 
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Holiday Decoration
See the post, 
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Holiday Traditions
