Leather & Chain Cuff DIY

I started making leather and suede cuffs when I was a kid. Mum bought some suede scraps and some eyelets, and showed me an old choker one of her old work colleagues had made. Then we made our own!

This is an updated version of our DIYs. I made it back in April along with some others, after finding some leather scraps at a local market (and then I forgot to post about them...oops!)

Leather cuffs - or suede ones! - would make a great upcycling project if you have an old and knackered leather/suede handbag or garment that's outlived its original use.
Of course, you can also use faux leather for this!

These are relatively simple to make. In fact, this one is the most complicated of the bunch I ended up making. Which isn't really that complicated at all.

Here comes the tutorial!

 

You'll need:
Leather scrap (or vegan alternative; just make sure it's lovely and soft!)
Chain scrap
Scissors/rotary cutter
Ruler
Eyelet kit & tools
Multipurpose glue (I used E6000)
Jewellery pliers
Jump rings
Toggle clasp*

Optional:
Pen (for marking out leather size--do this on the wrong side of the leather!)

*You could use a lobster clasp - which is in the picture because I'm an idiot - but toggle clasps are a lot easier to do up with one hand!

1. Cut a piece of soft leather long enough to fit around your wrist, and twice the width you want it to be (e.g 7"x3").
If you want a cuff that fits snugly to your wrist, trim off half an inch to make allowance for the size of the clasp.

2. Turn the leather right side down, glue along the two long edges and fold into the centre.

3. Add an eyelet either end

4. Attach a jump ring through one of the eyelets, over the end of the cuff. Fix the toggle clasp one side using another jump ring, and the end of the chain the other side.

5. Trim chain to length before attaching the opposite end--you'll need to cut it down to a little more than the space between the two eyelets. For mine, this was the same length as the leather.
The simplest way to find the length you need is to wrap it around your wrist, and find where the end of the chain meets the outer end of the eyelet :)

6. To finish, attach the other end of chain and the other part of the clasp with a jump ring, as explained in step 4.

And you're done!

Tomorrow, I'll post some more super-simple leather cuff ideas, so keep those tools and glue at the ready!
Check out these other designs:
Painted Leather Cuffs (Plus an easy, paint-free bonus DIY)
Vintage-Style Leather Cuff