Fancy That Notion: DIY Leather Diamond Necklace

Hello friends!

Today I have another fun leather jewelry tutorial for you! The leather was so generously provided by the Leather Hide Store (if you are looking to work with leather, they are definitely the place to go! Their leather is great quality and their customer service is amazing!)

I love working with leather in small amounts. So far, I haven't made a bigger project like a bag (although I know that one day I will!) because I just love these smaller pieces. Seriously, this necklace probably only requires a 4x4 square of each color that you choose, so you can use up some small scrap pieces with this project! Without further ado...

Supplies:

Leather scraps, one color or coordinating colors (again, my leather is from the Leather Hide Store)
Gold chain, 18.25"
Gold jump rings
Gold lobster clasps
Jewelry pliers
Pencil and paper
Diamond template
Thread and needle (optional)

Cut out of paper or cardstock two diamond templates of different sizes (mine were 2.5" and 1.75"). Trace onto the back of the leather with a pencil or washable marker. Cut eight large diamonds and 8 smaller ones. (I cut two diamonds of each color, one big one small.)

Put a jump ring on one end of the chain, and a jump ring and lobster clasp on the other end (make sure to close the jump rings tightly so that they will not come undone).

Using a leather hole puncher, put a hole in the top of each of the diamonds, making sure that they are all in the same place.

Arrange and re-arrange your leather pieces until you decide exactly how you wanted them lined up.

I even thread them all onto a string and held that around my neck to make sure I liked the arrangement.....but that might just be me going too far;) My order ended up being: small, small, big, big, small, big,small, big, small, big, big, small, big, small, small, big. I just found that lay out the best, but this is totally up to you:)

Tape your chain down onto the counter and lay out your pieces so that the amount of "left-over" chain on either side measures the same. Mine measures about 5" on each side, but again this will just depend on your spacing.

Open 16 jump rings. Pick up one of the outside diamonds and put the jump ring through. Lay the diamond back in place and slide the ring through the chain. Squeeze the jump ring closed. Do the same with the outside diamond on the other side. And then continue with all the diamonds, switching back and forth between left and right so that the leather pieces don't slowly move over to one side.