When buying high quality leather, you definitely want to make the most of it. Therefore, upcycling your leather is a brilliant option and essentially means you get 2-4-1! Not only is re-using your leather offcuts great for any additional leather crafting you may want to do, but it also means it doesn’t just end up in a landfill, which means it’s beneficial to the environment too! In this blog, we explore a few ideas to utilise those leather offcuts you may have lying around at home.

Practice makes perfect

For beginners and seasoned crafters alike, excess leather is a great way to work on upskilling yourself. Whether it’s practicing stitching, tooling, cutting, or dyeing, each small piece presents an opportunity to refine your skills. So, our first top tip, is to utilise your offcuts and excess leather as a form of practice – challenge yourself with working with irregular shapes and sizes, you never know what creative results you end up with!

Accessories

So, what can you create with these excess pieces of leather? With leather offcuts, they are usually small so it’s important to keep it simple. Think keyrings, simple pouches, or purses are great starting points. Why not consider appliqué, adding intricate designs to personalise your designs. Could you try creating matching accessories like bracelets or cuffs or use offcuts to create complementary items to your larger projects, such as luggage tags for suitcases or handbags.

One idea that caught our attention was a business card crafted from a piece of leather, with contact details embossed into the leather. It’s a creative and unique way to utilise any excess leather lying around while trying something new!

Leather versatility

Leather can be very versatile when it comes to crafting. Around the J Wood Leathers HQ, we find many uses for our leather offcuts, from makeshift mouse mats to a folded-up piece of leather for a doorstop! The possibilities are endless; all it takes is a keen eye and a bit of imagination.

At the J Wood Leathers warehouse, we’ve witnessed first-hand the enthusiasm hobbyists have for leather scraps. Our offcuts pile is consistently popular, and our pre-bagged leather offcuts sold out faster than we could replenish them! But fear not, they’ll be back in stock soon, ready and waiting for you – just keep your eyes peeled on our website.

Next time you’re working on a project or browsing crafting supplies, take a moment to consider how you can repurpose excess leather. Whether it’s for your own projects or collaborating with other leather enthusiasts, there’s always something you can create with scraps and cutoffs. If you create something unique, we’d love to see it, so please tag us on our Instagram page (@jwoodleathers) for a chance to be featured on our story!