Springtime accessories: fabric necklace tutorial

How do you do? I’m Tilly, I write a blog about sewing over at Tilly and the Buttons. Casey has asked me to write a guest post for her while she takes a well-deserved break. I have to say I was totally chuffed to be asked, as Casey’s blog was the first sewing blog I ever found and has been a constant source of inspiration to me ever since. Thanks, Casey!

The theme for the guest writers this week is Spring. It won’t be floaty dress weather in London for a while yet, but if you’re like me you’ll be itching to bust out that floral fabric already. So I thought I’d show you how to make a fabric necklace to garnish your crossover wardrobe with some colour. This tutorial is easy-peasy and super quick. Hurrah!

You will need: 1) cotton fabric – preferably with a smallish print; 2) polystyrene balls or wooden beads – 1″ diameter or smaller.

1. Cut your fabric. Drape your tape measure around your neck to work out what length you want the necklace to hang, then double that measurement and add 4″ to determine the length of fabric to cut. To determine the width of fabric, first you need to work out the circumference of the ball. Remember pi from maths lessons? Circumference = 3.14159…etc x diameter? This is why you learnt it, so you could make a fabric necklace. (Alternatively you could just wrap your tape measure around the ball, but I am a geek and like maths so humour me here.) My ball is 1″ diameter, so the circumference is 3.14159″ – let’s say 3 1/8″. I’m going to add 1/2″ seam allowance, plus 1/8″ wiggle room for the balls, so I’m cutting the fabric to 3 3/4″.

2. Fold the printed sides of the fabric together along the length. Press or pin if you need to, then stitch along the length according to your seam allowance (I left 1/2″, so am stitching to 1/4″). Press the seams flat. Turn the fabric tube the right way out (you may want to use a tube turner or knitting needle to help you do this).

3. Tie a knot as tight as you can a few inches from the end of the fabric tube. Insert one of the balls, smoosh it down to meet the knot, then tie another knot the other side. Continue doing this until you’ve got as many balls in as you want, leaving a few inches of fabric at the ends for tying.

4. Fold in the raw edges of each end by 1/8″ and stitch. You could slipstitch if you don’t want the stitches to show, but I’m not bothered by that kind of thing so use the machine. (If you run out of fabric, you could also insert some ribbon to the ends before stitching and use them as the ties.)

And here’s two I made earlier! I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you make one of these necklaces, I’d love to see it – do leave a comment here or pop over to my blog and show me. Byeeeee!

March 21, 2011 · 35 lovely thoughts
posted in creativity,misc,sewing,tutorials ·