Suede Fringed Earrings: A How-to Guide
Craft supplies are everywhere I look, and I rarely visit the craft store. Just about everything I need for jewelry making can be found on a rack in a thrift shop or piled up at a garage sale. My passion is to upcycle leather, suede, and anything else I can get my busy crafting hands on. It’s an affordable, eco-friendly, and extremely rewarding way to create. When I see an old leather jacket or a beat up suede skirt at Goodwill, items that aren’t likely to be used again due to the style or condition of the garment, I happily claim them, but not to wear as they were originally intended to be worn. My plans for these outdated or damaged garments include deconstructing them, chopping them into unrecognizable pieces, then repurposing the material as casual but bold jewelry.
My indie craft business called Once Again Sam is where my love of thrifting and jewelry making came together. I had always enjoyed digging through old clothes at thrift shops for fun, and creating jewelry had been a favorite hobby of mine for years, but it wasn’t until 2009 when I opened my business, that the two became intertwined. Once I discovered how simple and rewarding upcycled jewelry making could be, I was free to buy any thrift shop clothing item I wanted, and it didn’t matter what condition it was in, the style statement it once made decades ago, or how close it was to my size. Having chosen to source materials for my jewelry line through non-traditional means, I learned to walk through a secondhand clothing store and see it as a fabric warehouse. As an upcycler, I was free to seek out luxurious textures and colorful material, and pay only a few dollars in the end, and I love knowing there’s a backstory behind every piece I make.
Tools & Materials:
- Hammer
- Pliers
- Leather punch: circle 1/16”
- Scissors
- Leather / suede garment
- Jump rings & ear wire
Technique:
To make a pair of lightweight and lovely suede fringe earrings, you’ll need to first choose your material sources. Head out to your favorite thrift store, check out garage sales, or even look in the depths of your own closet for that article of clothing you haven’t worn in years but haven’t been able to part with just yet. Any kind of leather or suede clothing will work, but pants and skirts have fewer seams and more flat material, which make things easier when taking the garment apart.
1. Choose three articles of suede clothing.
2. Use sharp scissors to deconstruct the garments.
3. Select pieces of suede to work with.
4. Sketch out an earring shape, then draw the final design onto a piece of cardboard to make a template for each layer.
5. Trace around your cardboard template with a thin marker onto the suede, then cutout two copies of each layer.
6. Cut into the bottom of each layer approximately 3/4” to create fringe.
7. With a 1/16” circle leather punch, hammer holes through the tops of all layers of suede.
8. Secure all three layers through the punched holes with a small jump ring (6mm) then attach matching ear wire.
9. Enjoy wearing your suede fringe earrings!