If you've got a small scrap of leather sitting in your offcuts bin and a handful of spare jump rings from a broken necklace, this tutorial is for you. I walk through the full process of making tiny leather book charms — the kind you can hang on a journal spine, wear as a pendant, or tuck into a gift. Each one opens up to reveal a real little signature inside, sewn in with a pamphlet-style stitch and finished with a wraparound string closure and a lobster-claw chain.
What we cover
This tutorial covers the complete process of making a miniature book charm from a leather offcut: sizing and folding the cover, making and trimming a multi-page signature, sewing it in with two holes and waxed thread, creating a wraparound string closure with a small dangling charm, and attaching a jump ring and chain so the finished piece can clip onto anything.
What you'll learn
How to size and fold a leather offcut into a tiny book cover — the cover measures just over 2 inches long by 7/8 of an inch high, but the method scales up or down freely. Folding the leather into thirds first shows you exactly where the spine will fall before you commit to punching anything.
How to place and set a jump ring in the spine — the hole goes toward the top of the spine fold, and the jump ring from a piece of broken jewellery drops straight in. Leave it slightly open at this stage; you'll close and reopen it later when you attach the chain.
How to make and assemble a 12-page signature from paper strips, including:
- Folding single strips in half three times to get four folded pages each
- Nesting three strips together to make a 12-page signature (24 leaves, 48 sides)
- Why the starting length of the strips doesn't matter — you trim to fit after assembly
How to trim the signature to fit the cover — place the folded signature against the spine next to the jump ring, mark where it overhangs, and cut straight across. A metal ruler and a clean cut are all you need.
How to sew the signature in with two holes and waxed thread — no pre-punched holes, no complex stitch pattern. Push the needle through from inside the signature at roughly a third of the way from one end, then poke the second hole from the outside rather than returning from the spine (it's simply easier). Two holes, a pull-through, and a tight double knot finish the binding. Waxed thread is what I use, but embroidery floss or any light thread works fine.
How to make a wraparound string closure with a hanging charm, including:
- Poking a hole in the front cover approximately a third of the way down
- Threading a 14-inch string through a small decorative charm, finding the centre, and tying a knot about a centimetre above the charm
- Looping both free ends through the front-cover hole and testing the wrap length before tying any knots
- How to dial in the wrap count (three wraps is what I land on; four gives a chunkier look) by pulling the string in and out until the tension feels right
How to attach a chain and lobster-claw clasp to the jump ring — cut a length of old chain necklace to whatever feels right for how you plan to wear or hang the charm, link it to a second jump ring along with the lobster claw, then open the spine jump ring, feed the chain on, and close it up.
Tips & gotchas
Fold the leather into thirds before you touch a hole punch. That fold shows you the spine, and the spine is where everything else is anchored — if you guess at it and get it wrong, the whole cover will sit off-centre.
Don't attach the chain before you sew the signature in. The chain will be in your way the entire time. Set the spine jump ring, leave it barely open, and come back to the chain as the very last step.
Cut your paper strips a little shorter than the cover, not flush with it. You'll trim them further anyway once you test the fit against the spine, and starting slightly short gives you something to work with rather than scrambling to cut down strips that are already sitting inside a folded cover.
For the closure, experiment with the string length before you tie anything tight. Wrap it around the book two, three, or four times and see what feels right. I make a tiny mark on both strings where the knot needs to land, tie it loosely first, thread the ends back through and do one more test wrap, then tighten for good once I'm sure. Skipping the test-and-mark step is how you end up with a closure that's either too floppy or pulls the cover shut with too much force.
When sewing the signature, poke the second binding hole from the outside of the signature rather than going back in from the spine side. It sounds like a small thing, but in a piece this tiny, the angle from the outside gives you much better control.
A few in different leather colours, with different chain lengths, start to look like a little collection — on a journal spine, hanging from a bag, or tucked into an envelope as a gift. They also scale: the same method in slightly larger leather makes a charm that sits more prominently on a junk journal cover, and in smaller scraps you can get something genuinely tiny. The offcuts bin tends to sort this out for you.
