Reclaimed Leather Binder Clip Padding

This is an instructable to adress a problem we DIYers face with binder clips.

They are cheap, convenient, quite strong... But leave unsighty marks on the workpieces (wood, paper, leather...) So there is a solution that can even be taken off in case you need the clips by themselves.

Necessary materials:

Leather (I used some old ripped upholstery leather I had)

Paper clips

Stuff to sew: Thread (I used polyester 000, from Gütermann) , needles, awl

Contact cement helps in the process

Some time to spare (In order to make 8, I spent 2 hours)

First you need to figure how big your clips are, and so, how big the padding needs to be.

With some fiddling, I reached the conclusion that, for 4cm wide clips, I would need it to be 6 cm wide, and for 3,3cm, I would need 5 cm of width.

It needs, in length, to cover the whole inside of the binder in order to use it all, and the fold itself in order to be kept on.

After cutting all pieces, and testing for fitness, it is time to sew.

The stitching clearance is about 3mm from the edge, and used a standard saddle stitch.

The finished product.

It might not look best (these will never exit the workshop), but it sure works;

Hope you found it inspiring, or at least interesting; ohpe to read you soon!