DIY: Make a Leather Belt Loop Key Fob

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As you may have noticed, we love crafting and making gifts for friends and family here on Kiku Corner. Sometimes we struggle with creating presents for the guys, though. Really, how many knit scarves can Donatello own?

Since I have recently become obsessed with leather crafts (just check out our Pinterest board), it made sense to try a leather-based gift for Donatello. My goal was to make something useful and I decided on a leather belt loop key fob.

The beauty of this key fob is that most of the time I spent on it was for the design. The actual construction takes less than five minutes once you have all the supplies and tools. If this is your first time working with leather, I suggest getting one of those snap fastener kits that include all four pieces needed for the snap plus the setting tool. These are can be found online or in the leather section at your local craft store. I also suggest using the strongest metal lobster clasp you can find, with the least moving parts possible as there are fewer pieces to break.

Leather Key Fob

Supplies

leather strip, 2cm x 30cm

two 1.5cm metal snaps fasteners

one 3.5cm metal lobster clasp

Tools

heavy duty leather hole punch

rotary cutter and self-healing mat

hammer and 2 piece setting tool with base

Directions

1. Cut leather to correct size using rotary cutter, if you have one. This will make the cleanest edge, but if you don’t have one, a razor or sharp scissors will be fine.
2. On one end of the leather strip, measure 1 cm from end and punch a hole in the middle width-wise. Repeat on same end of leather at 3.5cm from end. This end will be the top layer of the fob.
3. To make the bottom layer, punch holes at 1cm and 3.5cm and again at 8cm and 10.5cm from the other end of the leather strip.
4. Slide on lobster clasp to second end of leather and fold over, aligning the four holes just punched. The good side of the longer end should be facing down.
5. On folded section, use hammer and setting tool to attach two male snap closures near metal clasp.
6. On first end of leather, attach two female snap closures with interiors facing the first two male snap closures.
7. Fold over and snap closures together.