DIY

Hi there!

I wanted to come up with a new leather wrap tutorial for a while now and I am really happy to pronounce I finally did

If you like to see my other bracelet tutorials please click here. 

It took me a while to wrap my mind around the "How To" because i wanted to create a braided full leather version as an alternative to the tedious and time consuming version of weaving beads in and out with bead cord between and around two leather strings.

Once you get the hang of the braiding rhythm you will see how quickly these bracelets are done and how beautifully they will turn out!

For one bracelet you will need:

- about 2 meter leather cord size 2mm depending on how many times you want to wrap the bracelet around your wrist (2meter length will wrap around 4x - you could do a shorter or longer version by taking less or more length)

- 1.5 meter leather cord size 1mm 

- 6 meter leather cord size 1mm

- about 140 little beads with a large enough hole to thread onto your shorter 1mm leather cord piece.

- optional a little jewelry button or something similar from the bead shop

Of course you are free to choose different sizes of leather cord than I did but make sure there is a thinner and a thicker cord and you are able to thread your beads onto the thinner one. 

O.K. - here we go! The right one is the version with no button. This bracelet will just close with a loop on one end and a knot on the other end.

Take your 2 meter long piece and fold it into half.

Take your 1.5 meter long piece and knot it around your loop as shown in picture 1.

Now fold the short end towards the middle and wrap your long end tight around all leather pieces to create a nice beginning.

ALWAYS pull gently!!! 1 mm leather cord is delicate and you do not want to tear it. Please try on an extra piece how much you can pull before it breaks so you get a feeling on how much strength you can use while pulling.

By the way - once these leather bracelets are done there is no danger of tearing anymore. The more you wear them the prettier and softer they will become.  

Place a knot as shown in picture 2. Thread all beads onto your thin cord and secure with a knot at the end to make sure they don't slip off while you are working. 

You could now cut the short end or - if your bead holes are big enough - you can hide the end by threading it also into your first bead.

So - Please pull up your first bead.

Now take your 6 meter piece cord and organize it into two equally long pieces. Don't cut it! 

You could roll it into little balls for the beginning to make handling easier. Please take a look back to picture 3. You can see my two organized balls of leather. Mine were much longer than 3 meter each because at this point I had no idea of how much length I would need for a bracelet that long...

Place a knot right under your first bead. 

Now start following closely and very slowly pictures 4 to 14. It is very important to carefully follow each single step.

In the beginning it's very likely that you get confused with over and under. No problem if that happens. Just carefully pull it apart and start over with the second bead.

You always alternate braiding over and then at the next bead under the thin middle cord. It is very important to keep this alternating rhythm to secure the beads nicely in between the two thicker leather strings.

Can you see the always alternating moves?

You will quickly get the hang of it - I promise - it looks much more complicated than it really is!

Make sure you wrap the bracelet around your wrist from time to time to see how much more length you need. 

For the ending fold one of your thin braiding ends to the middle and wrap the other one around all cords. Make the same knot you did in the beginning shown on picture 4.

Now take all endings and place a big overhand knot. Pull tight! Depending on the fit you could leave a little room and then do another knot and even another one as I did on the last picture.

If you use a button piece on the other end then this little room between the knots will be the place where to pull your button thru.

Have fun with it - and please ask if there is anything unclear - I am happy to help!

Happy Day,

Anette 

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... a little lilac blossom wreath.

Blessings to all mothers,

Happy Day,

Anette 

I had so much fun with this project - it's so easy and rewarding and it got me all excited for many more future wall decorations.

Imagine - you could do a whole landscape with this or a cute scenery with houses, flowers, animals...or letters, words or a quote!

All in your favorite fabric colors and patterns.

AND it is removable! - so it's perfect when you are renting.

I could even carefully peel it off my german "Raufasertapete" - this totaly outdated rough wallpaper Germans like to put on their walls.

So - here is what I did:

First I prepared the all-natural glue because it has to cool down a bit before you can cover your fabric piece with it.

I used this recipe BUT (in case you klick over there) I DID NOT follow up the instructions on how to treat your fabric with it.

I only used as little of the starch-glue on the back side of the fabric as possible and it was totally fine. I also DID NOT put the glue on the front side of the fabric.

Here is the recipe:

• Stir 1/4 cup corn starch into 1/2 cup cold water. 
• Then pour in 4 cups of boiling water and mix it up.
• I let it gently boil for another 20 seconds and then let it cool down. Pour in a jar for storage.

These amounts make a lot of glue! You could make half of the recipe depending on the size of your project.

Since mother's day is around the corner, I printed out some heart shaped templates and transferred the outline with a pencil onto a piece of cream-white linen.

I cut it out and then went gently all around the edges with my thumb and index finger nails pressing together while moving around to fray the outer edges.

Then I drew a few simple letters onto the fabric and used some thread to follow my lines.

My two wonderful children make me really proud to be their mom.

Meanwhile the starch-glue had cooled down and I used a medium size brush to cover the back side of my design. 

As I stated above, I used only as much glue as i needed to cover the shape and it worked absolutely fine. In my opinion there is no need to use the glue generously or to apply a top coat.

Press the piece down firmly onto your wall, smoothing out any bubbles or air pockets.

You can easily peel it off the wall once it is dry, but I still recommend to first try it out with a little piece of fabric in a hidden spot on your wall.

That's it.

I can't wait to do another design...

Happy Mother's Day,

Anette 

DIY-time is also me-time and is collected @Nic's today. 

Yesterday I have been invited to share my view on yarn on the lovely blog "About crochet"

Well - if you have been reading along a bit here on lebenslustiger.com or have seen some of my DIY's, chances are, that you have noticed quite some yarn projects I made of recycled cotton yarn.

I discovered it last year when a friend of mine brought over a sample.

I was imediately hooked - though I love wool very much too - but this fabric yarn was so... different.

It is thick and chunky yet often a bit stretchy and elastic depending on the fabric material mix. This thickness allows to crochet or knit sturdy projects like baskets, rugs or shapes like a heart, but I made bracelets and necklaces 1 and 2 from this material as well. I also braided a seat cushion and made pompoms and garlands with this yarn and it worked very well.

Fabric yarn fascinates me because I feel there is a lot of creative potential in it and this is very inspiring to me.

It comes in georgous colors - plus I like the idea of using a recycled material. 

I placed a large order of beautiful soft tones last year and are still more than happy to work with the material and colors developing new projects and ideas.

I really enjoyed making these little wall-hangings for Andrée's exposition because her idea was to focus mainly on the material and I wanted to create something which would truly show the beauty and esthetic of this yarn.

I took a beach wood stick and just knotted strands of yarn around it in different lengths and added a few pretty beads - that's it.

Anette