Personalized Phone-case With Leather Scraps

Do you have an old phone case that you are bored with the design, but don't want to buy a new one? My solution to this problem, along with several leather scraps from an old school project and some quarantine creativity, resulted in a personalized and stylish phone case! You can even swap out the leather scraps and replace it with other fabrics you have on hand.

Supplies

Grained Leather pieces
Phone case with a smooth back
Ruler
X-acto knife
cutting board
Hot Glue Gun (can replace with superglue)
Paper
Colorful markers and a pencil/pen
Superfine sandpaper (400+ grits)
Water or beeswax
Acrylic paint
Fine tip paintbrush
Tape

Step 1: Measuring and Design Planning

In order to plan the design for you phone case it is important to measure the height, width, of the flat back of the phone case and the camera hole.
Once you have taken down the measurements, draw the case onto a piece of paper and plan your design based on the size and shapes of the leather or fabric pieces you want to use. This design will become the stencil for cutting the leather.
1. For my custom design I chose to add my initial to the center of the case.
Then label or color in the paper design to replicate which leather scrap will be used for each design element.

Step 2: Cutting the Leather

To create the stencils (that will help you cut the leather into you design), use an X-acto knife and rule to cut along the lines of your paper drawing.
Once you have cut out your paper stencils, place them on their corresponding leather scrap, and move your supplies to a cutting board.
Cut along the outline of the stencil using the X-acto knife. A useful tip is to use the ruler to create straight, crisp, and accurate cuts to the leather.
Once each leather design element has been cut, place them on your phone case to ensure the fit and accuracy of cut lines. Re-cut if needed to better fit the case.

Step 3: Assembly

Once you are satisfied with the cuts of your leather, sand the edges using Superfine sandpaper.
After sanding each piece further smooth the edges. To do this with leather the best way would be to use beeswax, you can also slightly wet the edges with water (using your finger as the applicator). While completing this part, plug in your hot glue gun.
As soon as you have finished smoothing the edges of each leather piece, it is time to glue!
Flip over the leather pieces, and select a large edge piece to glue first.
Cover the back in a smooth and thin layer of hot glue, leaving room around the edges to account for glue displacement once you place it against the phone case. Once you have cover the back of the leather piece in glue, place it onto its designated spot on the phone case.
Gently press down to ensure it sticks properly.
Repeat 5-6 for the rest of your pieces.

Step 4: Finishing

Once every piece is glued onto the phone case and the glue is dried you can create a smooth and seamless edge along the sides of the leather.
Use a fine tip brush and acrylic paint in any color you choose.
To ensure paint does not go onto the face of your leather design and the side of the phone case, use tape as a guard.
Remove the tape and let the paint dry.
Once dried, you have finished your custom leather phone case!