How to Make a French Braid Bracelet
A French braid utilizes three strands woven over and under each other to create an attractive design. To create a French braided leather bracelet, a technique known as the mystery braid is used on a single piece of leather, creating a seemingly impossible weave. Once finished off with a pair of snaps to secure around your wrist, a French braided piece of leather yields a fashionable bracelet.
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Things You'll Need
- Leather strap, 1-1/2 inches longer than wrist
- Crafting knife
- Leather punch or awl
- Snap tool
- 2 snaps
- Hammer
Instructions
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1
Cut a pair of evenly spaced straight lines through the leather strap, starting 1/2 inch from one end of the strap and cutting parallel to the long side of the strap until you are 1/2 inch from the other end of the strap. This divides the strap in to three even sections, with a small uncut section at each end to secure snaps.
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2
Hold the bracelet so the cuts run in the direction you are facing, creating a left section, center section and right section.
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3
Grab the right section and pass it over the center section, making it the new center section.
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4
Pass the left section over the new center section, then under the new right section. The right and left sections will have switched sides, with the old left section now the rightmost section beneath the last weave.
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5
Grab the near uncut section and pass it through the gap between the right and middle sections and pull toward you.
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6
Repeat the three-step weave in reverse, passing the left section over center, then the right section over the new middle section and under the new left section.
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7
Grab the near uncut section and pass it through the gap between the left and middle sections. This completes one pass of the braid. You must always be sure to complete three passes, through the right gap, three more passes then through the left gap. If you stop after a right gap pass, your bracelet will turn inside out halfway through.
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8
Continue weaving until you can no longer complete another pair of weaves.
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9
Adjust the braid so each pass is evenly spaced, then hold the braid over a table edge and drag the braid over the edge while applying downward pressure to smooth the braid out.
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10
Poke two holes in each uncut leather section with the leather press, 1/4 inch from the edge of the strap and evenly spaced across the width of the strap. There will be four punched holes in total.
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11
Separate the snaps and place the button end of each near one end of the strap, and the socket the button snaps into near the other end. Each snap features a button and socket, and each button and socket comes in two parts that are crimped around the leather.
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12
Place the top of one button end in one end of the snap tool, then turn the bracelet over so the outside of the bracelet is facing down. Place one button hole over the snap tool.
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13
Place the second half of the button snap in the second piece of the snap tool, and place the half facing down aligned over the top half. Hit the tool with a hammer to secure the two halves together and fasten one button in place.
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14
Repeat for the second snap, then turn the braid over and secure the sockets to the two holes on the other end of the bracelet using the same technique. Be sure that the socket ends are facing out on the face-up side of the bracelet so the buttons can pop into the sockets.
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