Baseball Bracelet DIY

In an effort to get back on track, I had to decide what I was going to do for this week's edition of: Saw it. Pinned it. Did it. This actually turned out to be easier to figure out than I thought. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon this awesome tutorial on how to make a bracelet out of a baseball. And with baseball season in full swing (see what I did there?), this was a project I just had to do. The best part about this project is I didn't have to go spend $50 at a craft store. All you need is a baseball and an exacto knife.

 

The first step is to detach the leather from the ball. To do this, you will take your knife and begin outlining on either side of the stitches. You might have to go over it a few times but eventually you will be able to peel away the leather. 

 

 

The leather comes off pretty easily. You will have to tug a little bit because it is adhered to the ball with glue.

 



 

 

Eventually it will all come off and you are left with three pieces. One long curvy stitched piece and two plain leather pieces. You can now discard the ball, and those two leather pieces as you will no longer need them.

 

 

Next you will find where the stitches begin and cut the circle. In order to make two bracelets out of this one piece, you will need to find the center and make another cut. Just be cautious to not cut any of the thread. ONLY cut the leather.

 



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Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of one of the most important steps. This is where you begin to unravel the stitches until you have about 4 inches of thread on both sides and about an 1 1/2 inches of leather with no stitching. You will then take your knife again and cut up to the point you unraveled. Again being careful not to cut the thread. Do this to both sides. Once that is done, you can finish the bracelet however you like. I braided the thread and then knotted it off at the end so it looked clean. Then I trimmed the thread to make it even.

 

 

This next step is optional, but I found it cleaned up the bracelet quite well. I took my knife again and made a closer cleaner line to the stitching. Of course I couldn't resist a picture because Milo looks like he is actually attempting to learn. In reality he sees the string and thinks it is a toy.

 

 

And there you have it. Two bracelets from one baseball. As I was doing this, I began thinking about how cool it would be to do this with a baseball that means something. Not one of value of course, but one that has a little sentimental meaning. It would be a neat way to show off your baseball other than having it sit on a shelf in your house.  This way people will see it and ask about it which will give you the opportunity to tell your story.

 



 

Linking up with Steph @ Beautiful Mess for SPD.