Swarovski-Inspired Bracelet

A couple of weeks ago, my middle sister showed me a gorgeous bracelet from Swarovski Elements. It was like an elaborate friendship bracelet, with the traditional woven strap, and the addition of diamante, chain, and coloured lacing. My sister loved it, I loved it...but it was £176. Ouch.

I realised I could use it as inspiration to make my own version.

So here’s mine:

My version, cost £0

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And here is the original:

Source: swarovski-elements.com via Kei on Pinterest

Joyful Bracelet by Bibi Bijoux for Swarovski Elements, RRP £176

Isn’t it beautiful? You can buy it at the Swarovski Elements Web Shop

I made my bracelet with things I had to hand, so it was essentially free. Production was pretty time-consuming, but I’m pleased with the result!

Read on for a tutorial!
 

Time needed: An afternoon

You’ll need:

Friendship bracelet or decorative trim
Rhinestones or rhinestone trim

Stiff webbing or similar (width = width of friendship bracelet + width of rhinestones + 0.5cm)

Chain

Embroidery thread

Extra strong thread (I think what I used was carpet thread!)

Press stud kit

Glue

Pliers for cutting chain

1. If your bracelet has ties, chop them off! If you’re using trim instead, cut a piece around 1.5cm-2cm smaller than the measurement of your wrist (longer if you want a looser bracelet).

2. Cut a piece of webbing to fit around your wrist, with overlap for fastening. As in step 1, if you want a looser bracelet, cut a longer piece of webbing. You might need to seal the edge of your webbing to keep it from fraying.
The stuff I used came from the charity shop, so I’m not completely sure what it is--just that it looked useful and came as a big real for only £1!

Cut a piece of chain just shorter than the webbing.

3. Sew the chain to one edge of the webbing, starting at one end. (This will be the end on top of the overlap, once your bracelet is finished.)

4. Fix your rhinestones beneath the chain, spacing them around 0.5cm apart, but not on the overlapping ends of webbing.

I used loose rhinestones as I had them to hand, but rhinestone trim would be less time consuming and easier to attach evenly!

5. Glue the friendship bracelet onto the webbing, underneath the line of rhinestones, and leave to dry.
This is where you can see my webbing wasn't quite wide enough!

6. Cut a length of embroidery thread and split it into two lengths of three threads each. Thread one length into a needle so that you can sew it with double thickness.

I tried not splitting the thread at first and using a darning needle (the only thing I had that I could thread full width embroidery floss onto!). However, the needle wasn’t sharp enough to go through the bracelet.

7. Embellish the bracelet with diagonal stitches. These stitches should go from beneath the centre of each rhinestone (on the friendship bracelet/trim) and through the link of chain above the next rhinestone along.

8. Once you’ve reached the end of the length of rhinestones, sew diagonal stitches in the opposite direction.

9. For a bit of extra detail, sew a few stitches along the ends of the friendship bracelet or trim.

10. To finish, attach press studs to the overlapping ends.

Enjoy your bracelet! I hope these instructions were clear enough; I spent a few hours muddling my way through to work out the best method :)

I am totally in love with my new bracelet! My sister is too...maybe I should make her one!

Will be linking up at the parties below!