Pinched Teardrop Leather Earrings DIY

I’m so excited to share this pinched teardrop leather earrings DIY tutorial.

These earrings have been my go-to accessory (pretty much every day) for the past month. I might be just a little bit obsessed with them, ha! It’s okay to wear the same earrings every day, right? They go with just about everything and are so, so cute.

If you have about 10 – 15 minutes, you have time to make these earrings.

The materials listed below will make more than one pair of earrings. You could turn this into part of a moms’ or ladies night out event. Get some mom friends together, have the dads watch the kids, and make these beauties with a glass or mug or whatever makes you happy!

If you’d like to make these earrings to sell and/or are looking for an SVG cut file head over here to purchase (commercial license to make & sell as many as you want included).

Alright, let’s get to it.

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You might also enjoy this tutorial on how to make the most gorgeous large teardrop cowhide (with hair on!) metallic splashed earrings (with FREE pattern!) and this tutorial on making marbled clay stud earrings

Materials Needed And Estimated Cost To Make These Lovely Leather Earrings

• A 4″ x 4″ piece of suede leather, or switch it up and use faux leather. You can find all kinds of gorgeous faux leather in many colors here. Or check out this amazing cork and metallic faux leather (so lovely!)
• The reverse teardrop earring pattern (free) – get it here. Or grab this SVG cut file to make and sell as many pairs of earrings as you like using your Cricut or Silhouette.
• Two 6mm jump rings. Be sure to get the kind that can be opened and not the kind that are completely closed.
• Two earring hooks (I used gold to match the jump rings, but you could use silver)
• 1/16th inch hole puncher. UPDATE: I recently purchased an actual leather punch tool like this and I love it! (Use the smallest hole punch setting). If you’re planning to make lots of earrings it’s definitely worth it and makes punching holes in leather a breeze.
• Sharp crafting scissors
• Two pairs of flat needle nose pliers
• Optional: if you’d like a gold-dipped look similar to these earrings I’ve had great success with this liquid gold leaf paint, especially on suede leather

Step 1: Print And Cut Out The Pattern

The first thing you’ll want to do is print the pattern we’ll be using. If you missed it above, just click here to download the pattern. Make sure your printer is set to “actual size” rather than “fit to page”, which sometimes resizes images. The original pattern measures 7 cm x 4 cm, so you can always measure after printing to make sure it’s correct.

→ If you’re looking for an SVG file you can grab it here ←

Cut out the teardrop right on top of the black line so that when you’re done cutting you don’t see any line around the edge.

This is important because if the pattern is too big it will be difficult to get the leather at the top through the jump rings.

Go ahead and punch through where the black dots are at the top of the pattern using your 1/16th inch hole punch.

Step 2: Trace Your Pattern

Grab the leather and find the side that you want to be the back of the earrings.

Lay the back side face-up and trace one earring with a dark ink pen. Also, use the pattern to place two small dots where you will punch the holes.

Turn the pattern over and trace the second earring, also marking where the holes should be. This pattern is hand-drawn and not 100% symmetrical. Turning the pattern over creates a mirrored image so that the pair of leather earrings complement each other.

Step 3: Cut Out The Earrings and Punch The Holes

Using your sharp scissors, cut out the two leather earrings. Make sure you cut right on top of the line, or just ever-so-slightly slightly inside it. That way you won’t see the ink line on the backside of the earrings when you’re done.

Once you’ve cut the earrings out you can use the 1/16th inch hole punch to punch two holes in each earring where you marked them out.

See? Isn’t this so easy?

Step 4: Attach The Jump Ring And Earring Hook

For this step you’ll need the two pairs of needle nose pliers. The jump ring is too tiny to hold with your fingers, so you’ll be using a pair of pliers in each hand.

Take a close look at the jump ring and find the split where it can be opened.

Using a pair of pliers in each hand, open the jump ring side to side. Do not open the jump ring outward otherwise you will have a hard time closing it fully.

I really, really tried to get a good picture of this step so you can see what it looks like to open the jump ring side to side. It was difficult to capture in a picture, but hopefully it helps a little:

Now you’re going to put the jump ring through the two holes. You’ll need to use pliers again as the jump ring is too small to control with your fingers.

Make sure the jump ring comes forward and over the top of the earrings and not through the backside. Having the jump ring connect the two holes by going over the top of the earring is what creates the pinched look at the top. Here’s a picture so you can get a better idea of how to do this step:

Before closing the jump ring make sure you attach the earring hook. There should be a little loop at the base of the hook you can pass through the jump ring.

Now you’re good to close the jump ring. To do this, use your two pairs of pliers to hold both sides of the jump ring and bring them back together as tightly as you can.

I like to twist the jump ring so that the split is at the bottom, opposite of where the earring hook is – that thing is tiny and I don’t want to chance it falling through. Stranger things have happened, ha!

Step 6: Love Your Earrings And Wear Them Every day

But for serious, I do hope that you love your pinched teardrop leather earrings! I’d love to see your finished product and/or you wearing your earrings.

*you’re free to make as many earrings as you like to give to friends and family but if you’d like to sell them, please create your own pattern template. Thanks!*

Thanks so much for reading!

Related posts you might like:

• Cowhide Teardrop DIY Earrings (FREE pattern included!)
• DIY Marbled Clay Stud Earrings

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