I’m super cheesed about this little project I thought up. My husband likes to collect watches, and he recently bought a lot of odds and ends on eBay and a few came in without both parts of their bands. He reconstructed them to make one good watch and then what was left was a lonely pink Casio “Futurist” watch face, totally intact and functional, just no bands. He knew I’d make quick work of it so he gave it to me to see what I’d come up with. And I LOVE the finished product!
My first thought was oh hey an easy ribbon watch. But the spring bars were just a little too small for the ribbon I had on hand.
The ribbon was twisting and turning and just, no, I’m not messing with that. So I dug into my scrap box and I happened to find a perfectly sized chunk of a leather jacket. Bits and pieces of this jacket have gone into probably four of our cosplays now, so it’s just in one more piece of my wardrobe!
I finished both sides of the piece of leather by simply folding it over and stitching it down, and then re-threaded the ribbon behind the watch face. I have a REALLY small wrist so I had to carefully measure the next part! I cut slits into the leather band where the ribbon would feed through, then stitched them down. So the watch face floats on top of the leather band but still has some flexibility. I stitched down the ribbon right next to the slits so it’s not going anywhere.
Then I trimmed off the ribbon behind and melted the ends to keep it from fraying. I hand-sewed on two snaps to fasten it on my wrist. Ugh hand-sewing leather is always such a chore and I stab the daylights out of my fingers. Worth it!
Look how cute it is on! Remember, I have super tiny childlike hands and wrists so it definitely looks chunkier than it would on a normal human arm. But I like the chunky style and I’m a confessed houndstooth addict.
You could very easily do this with any watches you’d find. Make yourself a one-of-a-kind piece for next to nothing! I’m proud to wear it too because I made something from what would otherwise have been mostly useless. Oh yeah and it tells time and stuff too!
