Damariscotta

Project and Sample by Drea Carbone

Picture this: It’s winter and you’re living in a northern forest, in a cabin by a lake. A fresh snow has fallen overnight, coating everything in brilliant white. Each little twig on every branch of every bare tree has been blanketed. The morning sunlight creates a dazzling, almost blinding view…you can see every imaginable shade of blue and white.

Drea’s new laddered cuffs have a distinctively New England spin. Practical, simple, and great results. In Damariscotta, Drea took inspiration from one of Maine’s beautiful big-hearted small towns. A quaint little village full of 50’s throwbacks (a soda fountain!) and modern small businesses surrounded by snowy woods…that’s Drea’s idea of perfection.

To begin, cut five lengths of 1.5mm leather. The length varies depending on your wrist size, so measure carefully! Take your wrist measurement and add two inches…you’ll want this extra leather when you are attaching it ti your clasp, and you’ll trim the excess later.
Attach all five pieces to one side of the clasp first. Slide about 1” of the leather through a loop on the clasp, fold it back upon itself, and macrame with KO Thread about ¼” over the doubled-over leather to secure. Use a needle to bring the tails of the of the KO back up under your macrame knots and add a few drops of GS Hypo Cement to really hold everything in place. Trim your KO tails once your glue has cured. Repeat on the other four loops of your clasp. Trim excess leather tails.
Now, attach your leather to the other half of the clasp in the same way. Start with your clasp closed to ensure you don’t accidentally cross your leather! As you secure each piece of leather be careful that each is as close to the same length as you can get, otherwise your end result will be uneven. Unhook your clasp to check this and pull your leather taut…all even? Make adjustments before you glue and trim your leather!
Once your leather is attached use some scrap cord or thread to secure your project to your project tray. Now, just ladder! I used doubled-over KO Thread and Infinity Stitch. For this sample, I laddered both outside rows first, then did the inner two rows last. Because of this, my inner rows were somewhat skinnier and I used smaller beads there (Half Tilas versus 4mm Fire Polish).

Ingredients list is to the left and easy shopping can be done with the Shop Tab above!

Please join us as our worldwide community gathers on Facebook at 10:30am Pacific Time on November 19th, 2018 for Free Tip Friday. It’s so much fun to go live with us and bead together! After the live broadcast the video will be available above.