How to Make an Absolutely Stunning Pearl Leather Necklace
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Last Updated on June 3, 2021 by Katherine
This week on the blog, I wanted to share a necklace tutorial with you, specifically how to make yourself a beautiful Pearl Leather Necklace. I love working leather into my jewelry pieces. Look at one of my previous posts, all about leather earrings, for example. Leather is just very versatile and adds a wonderfully rustic texture to necklaces, bracelets, and earrings.
I’m going to show you how to make a pendant using leather and some pearl beads for just a lovely, stylish twist. You can easily pick your favorite jewelry chain style to go with the pendant or any jewelry cord. Metal chains will be more durable than cording, but if your pendant isn’t heavy, you’ll be fine with using cord.
Ready to get started? Read on.
What You Will Need:
- Craft leather sheets (I bought mine through Amazon);
- Pearl beads;
- A rotary cutter;
- A self-healing mat (or a suitable work surface for the cutter);
- A Leaf stencil;
- Sewing needle or other piercing tool;
- Split rings;
- Eye Pins;
- Head Pins; and,
- A necklace chain and closure (if it doesn’t already have one).
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Map Your Project Out
There’re various ways to make a leather necklace like this. Today, I’m making a leafy pendant, with a few layers of colored leather with a bit of a pearl decorative bit.
I like to sketch a doodle out on a piece of paper. This sketch is just to give you a rough idea and help you focus on your project. Don’t sweat trying to make your sketch perfect!
Stencil The Leaves
Start by using your leaf stencil (or stencils, depending on whether you want a bit of different sizing) and a black sharpie marker to draw the leather sheet’s back pattern. You can also use a chalk marker or anything that will show up on the backing fabric of your leather sheet.
For your stencil, you can either find a printable on the internet or just freehand draw a leaf and use it to draw the shape on your leather piece, as I did.
Then take your rotary cutter, using your mat or another protective surface to cut up your leather pieces for your necklace. I recommend cutting your leaves wide. It allows you to shave off more if you need it!
Create Your Pearl Piece
I decided that a simple pearl dangle was all I needed, but you can bulk it out with more “lines” of pearls or whatever suits your taste. To create my dangle, you use a head pin with three pearl beads and then an eye pin with a silver bead on top.
Putting Your Pearl Leather Necklace Together
I like to use a thick needle for piercing my leather (the larger ones for upholstery usually work well here). You need enough of a hole to insert a split ring in so you can connect the different leather pieces and your pearl bit. At the top of your pendant, finish with another split ring and loop your necklace chain through that, and your necklace is all ready to wear!
For my style of necklace, you want two holes in each leaf, so it kind of provides a bit of dimension to the leather leaves by pinching the top a bit.
Attach your closure at the end of the chain (if your chain didn’t come with one).
Final Thoughts
I love leather jewelry specifically because it can be dressy or casual. Leaf designs are quite popular and I don’t see the trend going away soon so you cannot go wrong with the design. I also love how easily you can put a unique twist onto this pendant style, a change of color, and you have an entirely different pendant! You can customize this pendant to suit your unique style easily.
I hope you enjoyed this pearl leather necklace tutorial. Let me know in the comments down below, I’d love to hear from you.
Also, please do share this post to social media and pin it to Pinterest!
Until next time, stay crafty, my friends!
Other Necklace Tutorials To Try:
How to Make a Gorgeous Three Strand Pearl Necklace
How to Make a Statement Necklace
Simple Waterfall Necklace–How to Make A Necklace You Will Love
