I call this the magic bracelet because I never thought that it’s possible and after making 3 pieces I still don’t know exactly how I did it. As I said: it’s magic!

braided_leather_bracelet_out_and_about

I stumbled upon this bracelet about a year ago on the blog of Melissa Esplin. (If you don’t know her yet, you should really follow her blog. She’s amazing!) I just couldn’t imagine how to braid something out of one piece of leather so it stays in place. So I had to try it and it worked! Magic.

I replicated it here for you.

braided_leather_bracelet_supply

All you need is:

– leather
– a ruler
– a cutter
– a needle and some thread
– a push button

First you need to cut a piece of the leather that’s 4 cm longer than the scope of your wrist (or the wrist of the person you’d like to make it for.) Then cut 2 lines into the piece of leather. In the end it should look something like this.

braided_leather_bracelet_cut

I used some Washi Tape to attach it to the table. It’s much easier to braid this way.Then all you need to do is start braiding. Start with the right side and fold it into the middle. Then do the same with the left side. Continue until you folded it 6 times. Just ignore the tangling at the end of the bracelet.

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braided_leather_bracelet_step3+4

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This was quite easy, right?! But now starts the tricky and magic part: the untangling! As mentioned I did this several times but I’m still not sure how to do it exactly. I just pulled the end through here and here and then voilà! Magic. I tried to take pictures of every step.

braided_leather_bracelet_step7+8

On the right side you’ll see how it looks when you pull the end towards you and on the left side you’ll see how I untangled it. If you’re still unsure how it’s done maybe the tutorial from Melissa Esplin can help.

Braid the rest 4 times and untangle it again and that’s it. (I tried to braid it more but it’s just not working. If you can do it, you deserve my complete and honest admiration!)

braided_leather_bracelet_done

If it looks a bit rough, don’t worry though. It will smooth out over time. Here you see an older bracelet on the left side and the freshly braided one on the right side. See the difference?

braided_leather_bracelet_oldvsnew

Now you just have to sew on the push buttan and it’s done. And now look what I made: a magic braided leather bracelet out of one piece of leather!

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Now. Carry on!