So, there's only 1 week left until Thanksgiving and I haven't done a single Thanksgiving related post! Can you believe it? I can't. Where has November gone? Maybe it's because the stores go directly from Halloween to Christmas and Thanksgiving doesn't really get much love. Since everyone is gearing up for Christmas I decided to as well. I decided this year for Christmas, seeing that I'm on an unemployed budget, I'm going to make Christmas gifts for my friends. Since I have quite a few gifts to make I decided I have to start early, especially since some of my friends live out of town and are visiting in early December so xmas gifts need to be ready to go in a couple of weeks! I'll probably post a Thanksgiving post later next week when I actually have Thanksgiving dinner and use a recipe from Pintrest, but for now, let the Christmas crafting begin!
Also, friends and family who do read/follow my post I hope you're still surprised to see your gift when you get them since the blog post won't reveal who the gift is for. :)
(Original pin: http://pinterest.com/pin/231724343298624586/)
Pin Rating: 3.5 (Keep in mind this is a pin rating and not a rating or the final product b/c I love the way it turned out)
Level of difficulty: Medium (If you don't already have sewing experience this may be a bit difficult)
- Marbles or Accent Gems (I picked some up at the Dollar Tree)
- Tulle or some sort of transparent/see through fabric (I used Organza since I had A LOT laying around)
- Sewing items (Sewing machine, pins, measuring tape, scissors, needle, thread, safety pin)
- Cute accent button
Okay, the reason why I gave the pin rating a 3 is because although the DIY instructions look easy enough I actually made a spoof. In the original tutorial it doesn't talk about the length of the necklace, it only tells you to "Cut the fabric the long way" after you had measured the marble. I was a little concerned about this because what if cutting the fabric the long way wasn't enough? (Especially since I was using scrap fabric) I took out my measuring tape and looped it around my neck for the desired length (it's on the mannequin since it's easier for a picture) and I took note of the measurement. ADD 5-7 INCHES TO THIS MEASUREMENT (more is better!). I made the mistake of not adding the extra inches and my necklace came up a little short due to not taking into account the knots. So this tutorial is a little different than I would have hoped since I made that mistake but it still made a lovely final product so please do read on.
Wrap the fabric around the gem and then add 1 inch from for sewing slack.
Once you cut the sliver of fabric out, fold and pin it in half and sew the open edges together.
Take the safety pin and pin it onto one of the sides.
Slip it through and inside of the tube to make it easier to flip it inside out. Continue scrunching the fabric around the safety pin in order to slide the pin down.
It'll look like a little accordion.
Lightly tug on the fabric on the outside and pull in the opposite direction you're pulling your safety pin through. I ended up wrapping my whole hand around and just pulling. It's a little tricky but once you get it down it's a lot of fun.
Set a gem inside the fabric tube and make sure it's in the middle. I took a safety pin and pinned it to one side of the gem to help hold the gem in place while I tied a knot on the other end.
Continue to place the gems in the tube alternating the ends that you place it in. I found that it helped to twist the fabric to close the gem in tightly before tying my knots.
As you can see here I ended up putting more gems in one side after I realized I didn't measure out the correct length. What I ended up doing it attaching a 2nd tube of fabric where the flower piece will cover it so it won't look out of place.
For the fabric piece gather some fabric to make the flower. I used a 1-2 in strip and kind of made it with a rose in mind. Sew it through the center.
Sew the cute little accent piece to the center of the flower.
Here I tied the end of the original necklace with marbles to the newly made one.
This is what it looks like hanging out. Can you tell I messed up? :)
The back is super long where it's tied together but that's okay. I cut the fabric to the length that I liked.
Sew the ends shut.
Attached the flower piece via needle and thread to cover the joining knot.
And voila, finished!
I hope you guys don't make the same mistake I did and that I was able to provide a few additional tips and tricks to make this.
Hello There,
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