I fell in love with a necklace over on Anthropologie's website a couple of months ago, but I don't see it listed anymore. Guess they sold out, which is perfect because now you can make your own and it won't cost $198!!!
Here is the original -- the Potentilla Bib Necklace. Now, it's really pretty, but unless that jersey is actually knitted from gold thread or made from the mane of a unicorn, I just don't get the price. I'm cheap though, so there's that.
Image via Anthropologie.com
Here's what you need:
Scrap fabric for flowers - I used leather, but felt or any other non-fraying material will work too
Scrap fabric for backing
E6000 glue
Random seed beads
Chain for necklace
Jump rings - one large, one small (optional)
Lobster clasp (optional)
Needle-nose & round nose pliers - (optional) use ones from your toolbox if you don't have ones for jewelrymakers
Head pin (optional)
One larger bead (optional)
The pendent of this necklace is made with three flowers, one that is slightly larger than the others. To make the flowers, cut three squares that are about 2" and cut six that are roughly 1".
For the large flower has four petals. The quick & easy way to make it is to fold one of your 2" squares in half
and cut a notch
Repeat on all four sides making sure to not cut all the way to the middle. Then shape the petals a little.
The smaller flowers have three petals, so cut this shape on all six 1" squares
Now, these will not be perfect. That's OK, real flowers aren't perfect either. Just get the prettiest petal and use that as your top one and leave the wonky ones in the back.
Get your needle & thread and stitch a few beads in the center of the three flowers. Only sew on the front petal because sewing through three layers of leather = bent needles. Booo.
Now, grab that E6000 and glue your flowers together. Trust me, it'll stick.
You now have three flowers - one larger and two smaller.
Hooray!!
Get your scrap fabric for the backing. I use a scrap of corduroy because it feels nice. :)
Lay out your flowers in a way that is aesthetically pleasing to you. I like to lay the large flower offset to the side. Once you've settled on your design, glue them down with the E6000. I use the method in this video here. Big ups to LollyChops for pointing me towards that video!!
Now that you have your pendant, you have two options. You can either make this a long necklace that you just put on over your head (just like the video shows you), or you can make one with a closure. If you do not have jewelrymaking supplies I'd just go with the first option unless you want to go buy all the other findings (lobster clasp, jump rings, eye pins). They aren't too expensive so I leave that up to you.
All you need to do for option one is to cut a long piece of chain, dob some glue on your backing fabric
plop down the chain
and plop your flowers on top. Do this for each side & congrats, you have a swingin' new necklace!!
If you want to go with option two, you just cut two lengths of chain (I cut mine 8" and 10" but I like a shorter necklace), glue it down (shorter side under the bigger flower), then glue the flowers down.
But Regan, why do you cut the chain in two different lengths?? Well, I like the necklace to be a little offset. I just think it's prettier that way. You can cut it however you'd like, but I prefer a little asymmetry. :)
Let your glue dry for an hour or so. I left for work & then did the next step during my lunch break! You just want to trim away any of the excess backing fabric so that all you see are your flowers. Be careful not to cut any petals!
Now for the closure. Get your supplies -- one small and one large jump ring, one head pin, one lobster clasp, a little bit of extra chain, and a bead.
Put your bead onto your head pin and attach it to one end of the piece of chain (Not pictured, but you can see a tute here). Attach your lobster clasp to the necklace using the small jump ring, and use the larger jump ring to attach the chain with the bead. It'll look like this when you're done:
And a note... always open a jump ring by twisting it towards you, like this
never by pulling it open like this
You're all done!!! As always, let me know if you use my tute & I'll put you on my sidebar. Email me with any questions!! :)
EDIT: Here is the prototype I made, and the back of the necklace so you can see what it looks like. As you can see, the back has got a few extra pieces here and there. :)
Sorry for the bad pic of the back, but my stupid camera battery has officially ran out of juice. I took this with my cell phone.
xoxo,
