Sarah Hartill shares step-by-step directions on how to produce your own trendy leather storage basket.
It’s always useful to have a basket or two around, however in some cases wicker or material ones look out of location in my contemporary rooms. I chose to make one with a much more contemporary shape from a pale natural leather. It’s simple to discover leather tools at craft as well as notions stores, as well as since I cut the material myself, the completed basket came in under $100.
Materials
You’ll need: Leather, rivets, rotary knife, metal ruler, cutting mat or protective surface, needle-nose awl, little mallet, leather punch, rivet setter.
Step 1: select as well as cut leather
Pick leather that’s thick sufficient to feel durable however thin sufficient to cut; mine was 3 mm thick. cut the leather into 1″-wide strips with a sharp rotary knife. For the basket, you’ll requirement four 20″-long pieces, three 40″-long pieces as well as two 26″-long pieces. For the handles, you’ll requirement two 14″-long pieces.
Step 2: set out Basket as well as Punch guide holes
Lay out the strips on a cutting mat or protective surface to type the basket’s framework, as shown in the design template (above). The basket is held together by a rivet at each point where the strips overlap. for every rivet, begin by punching a guide hole at the centre of the overlap utilizing the mat guidelines or a T-square, plus awl as well as mallet.
Step 3: Punch Rivet holes as well as connect Rivets
Next, punch a hole for every rivet utilizing a sharp leather punch centred on the guide hole, as well as connect the rivet utilizing a rivet setter as well as mallet. (See my suggestions below on developing the basket.) select rivets long sufficient to in shape with two thicknesses of leather. I utilized 7-mm rivets in a good brass surface that add a metallic touch against the soft leather.
Tip: As you rivet, begin by keeping the strips flat, as shown in the template, as well as attaching the 40″ as well as 26″ pieces to the 20″ pieces. Then, rivet the two ends of each 40″ piece so they type three bands. (These will be the basket’s sides.) Fold the 20″ pieces over as well as rivet to the outside of the bands. (At this point, you ought to have two longer sides as well as the base of the basket.) surface by folding up the 26″ pieces as well as attaching to the bands to type the two shorter sides.
Step 4: connect Handles
When the basket is formed, connect the two 14″-long pieces as handles by riveting them to the 26″ pieces. The rivets won’t go with three layers of leather, so be sure to connect at a point with only two layers. fill with books or toys, as well as enjoy!