Tutorial: Buttons & Beads Bib Necklace

Recently I am really digging the combination of blue and gold! I decided that the quickest way to get these colours into my (mostly black) wardrobe was through jewellery.

So I sat down and made this buttons and beads bib necklace:

Bib necklaces like this are pretty easy to make, but they’re really darn time-consuming!

However, I think the eye-catching quality of the necklace completely makes up for the time it takes to make. I wore mine today and received so many compliments!

Here’s how to make a bib necklace of your own.

Time needed: 3-4 hours

You’ll need:

Fabric

Felt

1 m ribbon

Buttons

Trim

Beads (two sizes)

Needle & thread

Multipurpose glue

1. Cut a crescent shape from the felt for the backing, of the size you want the finished necklace. Use this as a template and cut out a piece of fabric the same size plus approximately 1cm seam allowance.

2. Hem the fabric and sew 50cm ribbon to each side. It doesn’t matter if your stitching isn’t perfect (mine certainly isn’t!)

3. Sew or glue trim around the edge. I picked the lazy option and glued it on.

4. To make the rosettes:

• Cut a strip of fabric the width you want your rosette to be
• Fold it in half
• Gather using a running stitch along the cut edges
• Tie the ends together to form the rosette shape and trim off any trailing threads

 

5. Sew or glue on your buttons and rosettes. (I glued the rosettes and sewed the buttons.)

6. Fill in the gaps with beads.

7. Glue the felt shape onto the back of the necklace.

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8. Go out and enjoy all the compliments you’re going to get on your gorgeous new statement necklace!

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Here’s another that I made previously. I used a different shape and along with buttons and beads I embellished with flower motifs and googly eyes!


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Strut Your Stuff Saturday @ Six Sister's Stuff
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Tuesday Time Out @ Reasons To Skip The Housework
The Inspiration Board @ Homework
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