diy: fabric & chain necklace

this week’s diy is simple & inexpensive to make. as well as being so easy to wear. it’s a fabric braided necklace with a bit of chain. all the braiding got me inspired to finally make the bracelet above as well. full on diy after the jump…

supplies:
+ fabric – cut (i like to tear) into three 1 – 1.5 inch pieces.
+ chain. any chain you like will do.
+ some sort of hoop. washers or the hoop part of a toggle clasp would work perfectly. i used some shell pieces i had lying around.
+ hot glue gun, pliers, scissors
+ optional: wire in the same finish as chain.

lets do it to it…

you can make this necklace as long or as short as you want, so long as you can slip it on over your head. i started with super long pieces of fabric & braided them.

take your washer and loop one end of the brain through. hot glue gun it together right under the washer. trim any excess fabric & repeat with the other end of the braid. at this point, the length from washer to washer is about 12 inches.

take your pliers and gently open one end of the chain. slip onto the washer & repeat for the other end, trying to keep the braid and chain from getting twisted. i used around 12 inches of chain, making the entire necklace ~22 inches long.

& that’s it. i finished it off a bit more by wrapping the area that was glued with a bit of wire. this gave it a more polished look. it is super light and would look great with a fun summer dress. (i had to use jump rings to attach the chain because of the nature of the links. just make sure the links on your chain can be opened with pliers). i would also do this again with a loose braid and maybe a mix of fabrics. silk ribbon perhaps?

oh. & that bracelet.

i finally got around to making the woven chain bracelet from honestly wtf. it was so super simple. i chose rather soft colors for this one but plan on making a super bright one with a gold toned bracelet.

need more diy inspiration? check out smitten & hazel – she’s got a great selection of diy posts.
happy diy-ing!