How to Make an Easy DIY Leather Coasters Set (with Personalization!)

These DIY leather coasters are a simple and quick gift for him. Perfect for Father’s Day or as a Christmas stocking stuffer, you can even personalize the leather coaster set with their name or initials!

Leather items are one of my favorite gift ideas for the men in my life. This simple and quick DIY leather coasters set can be personalized with their name or initials AND it’s very beginner friendly for someone who is new to leather crafting.

Besides the personalization, this craft project uses basic sewing tools that many crafters already have on hand. You don’t even necessarily need to buy leather – if you have an old purse or coat around the house, you can recycle it to make the coasters.

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Christmas Gift Ideas

On the 1st day of Craftmas, my true love gave to me… a Personalized Coaster Set.

What is Craftmas? It is 12 days of Handmade Christmas Gifts, brought to you by Making Joy and Pretty Things, Meet Our Life, North Country Nest, and myself. I’m so excited to bring you this series, as it fits perfectly with my focus this year, to Give Creatively.  We hope to inspire you, over the next 12 days, to get your hands dirty, to create and to make… in order to give handmade.

I’m kicking off the series with a set of DIY personalized coasters. Last year, I bought a set of leather coasters from The Path Less Traveled. The coasters weren’t personalized, but we have loved them. They look stylish and luxurious without being breakable. For Christmas 2016, I wanted to make several sets to give as gifts; but with the added detail of monogrammed personalization on each set.

How to Make a DIY Leather Coasters Set

For this project, I used a wood burning tool and hot stamps to personalize the coaster. As the name implies, this tool is for burning wood (like my personalized recipe box).

When I decide to make personalized leather cord holders, I gave the wood burner a try on leather – and it worked! However, if you don’t have a wood burner on hand – or if you’d rather press leather than burn leather – the best option would be to buy a leather stamp set.

Supplies

• leather scraps

Tools

• rotary cutter
• circle cutter
• self-healing mat
• wood burning tool with hot stamps (or a leather stamp set)

Instructions

1. Purchase or Cut Leather Scraps

Purchase a bag of leather scraps (buy online or at craft stores) or deconstruct leather clothing and accessories for scraps.

At our local thrift store, I purchased a pair of black leather pants and a brown leather jacket. If you buy used leather clothing to deconstruct, make sure that there is enough space between the seams to cut coasters that are 4 inches in diameter.

In order to recycle a leather jacket or pants, cut along the seams with scissors or a rotary cutter. If there is a layer of lining, it will separate from the leather after the seams are removed. You will finish with scraps similar to what is shown in the photo, below.

2. Cut 4 Inch Circles for Leather Coasters

Next, cut 4 inch circles from leather scraps using a circle cutter on a self-healing mat. Check the circle cutter’s directions to set the measurement correctly.

For example, to cut a 4 inch circle, set the tool to 2 inches. Hold the leather taut with one hand, while using the other hand to rotate the tool.

3. Burn Letters into the DIY Leather Coasters

Once the coasters are cut out, prep the wood burning tool. Attach the first hot stamp letter, and turn it on to warm up. Once hot (about 5 minutes), press the first letter into the coaster.

You won’t need to press very long, because it will burn quickly in the leather. Test this on a few scrap pieces of leather in order to get a feel for how long and how hard to press.

Note: The wood burning tool worked well on soft, raw leather, but not on glossy-finished leather. A leather stamp set will work on both finished and raw leather.

Once the first letter is burned into the coaster, turn off the wood burning tool. Then, let it cool for approximately 5 minutes. Once cool, attach the next letter and repeat the process.

As an option, package the coaster set nicely in a cellophane bag. I use 5×7 bags with cardboard inserts for my craft shows, so they were a handy option to package this gift. It gives the coaster set a handmade, but professional, appearance.

Stocking Stuffer for Him: DIY Leather Coasters

I created several of these coaster sets for some of the men in our family. Men can be hard to buy for at Christmas and this is a great “Gift for Him” that is simple, yet unique. My husband liked them so much, he requested a set of his own. We’ll see what Santa brings….

If you liked this handmade gift idea, you might also like:

• 30+ Handcrafted Leather Gifts You’ll want to Give (and Get!)
• DIY Baby’s First Christmas Ornament
• How to Make Leather Gift Tags and Ornaments

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