Crafty, Creative DIY Projects Using Leather Strap Handles and Pulls

UPDATED APRIL 21, 2026

The leather handles, straps and pulls from our Leather Interiors Collection can be used for so much more than cabinets, drawers and doors. Our high-quality American veg-tan leather can be used indoors or outdoors and ready accept a variety of DIY hardware. 

In this post, we share some of our favorite customers' crafty, creative, DIY uses for our leather handles and pulls. 

We'll share several customer projects while showing easy, intermediate, and advanced crafting projects using our leather straps and handles. 

The super-discounted "dents and dings" pulls and handles in our annual AS-IS Sale are perfect for these projects. 

For even more ideas, check out our post on IKEA Hacks, or this post on Cool Crafts: 60 Leather Craft Ideas You Probably Never Thought Of.

Florence Livingston Design used a version of the Hawthorne as a decorative element in a custom bookshelf. 

One clever customer on Etsy used the Hawthorne (Large) to make a DIY towel hanger in her bathroom using an embroidery hoop and a macrame ring. 

A friend shared this project, to use the Fremont loop fold to hold a wall-mounted organizer or small flower vase. The ring created by the Hawthorne Large or Hawthorne Wide / Fremont is just about perfect for a regular-mouth half-pint jelly jar. The fill line ring creates a stopgap that holds the weight against the leather rim.

This same installation would work equally well in the garage as a tool holster for a long-handled rake or a shovel.

On pegboard, our standard Chicago screw kits work great by threading the hardware through both the leather and the pegboard holes, sandwiching them all together.

If securing directly to the wall, a wood screw kit creates maximum stability by biting directly into a stud. The artist suggested a flower vase, but we've used it for all kinds of things!

Hawthorne leather handles can be tied together with garden twine or rope and used to secure plants in landscaping projects.

These project photos show a sprawling vine maple held back from a trail with a bit of nylon rope, and with a grommet added to the hole to act as a ladder hold. 

The leather is soft enough not to damage the tree or bark, but strong enough to stay secure, even in the outdoors, even after two years in the Pacific Northwest rain!

Our leather can be cut to shape using sharp scissors or an exacto blade, and in a pinch, the edges can be finished using a permanent ink pen like a Sharpie. 

You can also burnish the edges like we do with wax for a smooth edge, and you can punch a hole for your own hardware inserts with a sharp awl, or better yet, a leather hole punch. This is basic leathercrafting, but it can be done with very few tools found around the house. 

Here are a few craft projects that used some basic leathercrafting to alter the handle or strap. 

Sometimes even new suitcase need a little adjustment or a replacement zipper pull. These 5/8" wide leather straps were cut and riveter together as handsome and sturdy zipper pulls. 

If you've never riveted before, then double-cap, or jiffy-set, rivets, are a good place to begin. All you really need is a mallet, although the special rivet setter will ensure the rivet stays centered and flawless.

You can apply the same concept to pull-down attic stair handles, ceiling light / fan pull chain, or a dog leash. 

In the second photo, customer Kyle simply used a Burnside handle to attach directly to the underside of the attic stair door on top of the ceiling, and had a custom hook made to easily loop and grab the hanging pull. 

If you have an idea for a leather project using our hand-dyed, American-made leather, ask us what we can do for you! We can make the straps longer or shorter, wider or skinnier, and place the holes where you need them.

Contact us or visit our custom work request form to see what we can do for you!