Aren’t these the most perfect little gift? Mr Ask is always saying I don’t sew anything for him. But when I ask what he wants, it’s always leather! I’m not confident (yet) about sewing leather but I thought I’d whip these up for his birthday. It’s absolutely perfect for him, he is the sort of techno geek that lives life surrounded by a spaghetti of cords. There’s always a couple pair of earphones in his pocket, charging cables spring from the gaps in the modular couch, even the car is littered with cords!
As a vegetarian, animal liberationist type, leather has some ethical issues for me. I chose to buy a leather skirt from the op shop for a couple of reasons. I feel more ethically comfortable with giving an old piece of leather new life, rather than buying new. I’m not aware of anywhere local I could buy leather and buying online means I can’t really gauge the thickness, softness and pliability. If you wanted to keep these vegan, you could use a non animal leather substitute. I’ve talked about my ethics in general before but make the choice that suits you.
These are pretty simple to make and you don’t need too many tools. You’ll need:
- Snaps & Snap Setting Tool – you need the kind that comes in four parts. I picked mine up from eBay and you could buy them with our without the tools.
- Leather punch – I’ve had mine for a while but you could try a craft store, hardware store or eBay.
- Scissors or Blade – a box cutter, xacto knife, disposable scalpel or sharp scissors all work. I used sharp sewing scissors that I didn’t mind wreaking.
- Hammer – just a regular hammer
- Clear sticky tape
- Cutting Templates – Click here to print Leather Templates
I started by cutting the back seam of the skirt open and removing the lining. I cut around my paper templates and used clear tape to stick them onto the leather. I cut around the template for my first cord keeper.
I set my leather punch hole size so that it was just a tiny bit bigger than the posts on the snaps. Then I folded the leather in half and used my leather punch to punch a hole where the snap will go. The little tool in my hand (second photo) came with my snap kit. You can use it instead of a punch. Just put the end down where you want your hole and hit with a hammer until you have a hole. The space on the side allows you to poke out any leather bits.
So you should have 4 parts to your snaps. Get them ready to go! There will be serious hammering and bashing so you will need to prep a surface to use. I laid a towel (4 layers) over a heavy duty cutting board and topped it off with paper towel in the hopes of preventing permanent dents in the towel pile.
The tool kit came with this little metal gizmo that was concave on one side and had a series of grooves on the other side. To put in the female side I laid the smooth side of the snap in the gizmo, I laid the leather on top (leather side down, suede up) so the snap poked through the hole. I placed the second female snap piece on top. Look at it, there should be a sort of stem sticking up through both parts and it needs to all make a female shape (the side with the hole) except for the little stem. Insert the tool into the stem and bash that with a hammer! If it feels loose and wiggly, hammer some more. You are halfway done!
Now you are going to flip that gizmo over to the ridged side. Settle the exterior side of the snap in the groves and position the hole in the leather (leather side down) over the little stem. Position the second part of the snap over the top, insert the tool and hammer until set and you are done!
Et Voila! Some super cute, yet manly too cord keepers! They are very stylish and practical gift that will totally get used. I made thirteen of these in about an hour, so they are quick too. I could have made quite a few more from that leather skirt (and it was only a tiny size 6!) but saved some leather and two sets of snaps for another project. If you make these, I’d love to see pics xxxxxxxxxx
2 Comments
That is some serious cords and thankfully hubby is much better at keeping it a bit more controlled. No matter what these holders will come in very handy, thank you for the templates.
Haha! Luckily, these pics were taken on a clean up day. He has everything neatly stored in the storage couch now. Our house is mostly cat fur, cords and fabric…..