Monograms are so crazy popular that you can find them in all kinds of colors, sizes, fonts, and materials.
Katie from Addicted 2 DIY created a leather monogram with a bit of a sophisticated, masculine twist. She shares how she wrapped the paper mache letter with leather and then outlined it with nail heads for a little extra edge {Wink}!
Keys to This Project
Like any project, patience is important. When wrapping and gluing leather around a giant 3D letter, it takes just a bit of focus and perseverance. Here are a few more tips to consider if you venture on to make your own leather-bound monogram.
Cutting
Leather is fairly easy to work with when cutting and forming into desired shapes and placement. For this project, Katie relied on some of her trusty cutting tools.
Aside from a good pair of scissors and a craft knife for trimming at the end, her go-to device was a rotary cutter. These are great for cutting thicker materials or multiple layers of fabric. They also work great for felt and vinyl. With leather, they’ll be your best friend.
Follow Katie’s instructions for tracing, cutting and wrapping and you’ll see it’s easier than you think to get the leather where it needs to go. Then you’re ready for the next key step.
Gluing
Katie used the old standby E6000 glue. She first glued the face of the letter into place. Then, each of her wrapped segments was glued into place next after folding each one up.
Note that you don’t have to position these perfectly. You can easily trim any uneven or excess leather that doesn’t look quite like it’s in place.
Have Plenty of Thumbtacks
Adding the extra glitz with the thumbtacks is a fun finish to this project. As Katie says, depending on which letter you’re doing, the amount of tacks you need can vary.
Tip: They’re cheap, so just get more than you think you’ll need.
Also, think about sizes as you might like. The inspiration design has a smaller type head, so you might like that better.
You can also go shiny brass or something darker and duller. Think about this before you buy your leather, as the two will play off each other in the finished product. You most likely want to have this set before you start.
The original inspiration came from Ballard Design’s Leather Studded Typesetter Plaque.
For the complete instructional text and steps, head on over to My Crafty Spot for Katie’s awesome tutorial. She was inspired by Ballard Design, now it’s your turn to be inspired.
