I was inspired by an old costume necklace my daughter was given. I was able to reuse the wooden beads from that necklace and make a new fashionable necklace instead. I came across the silk fabric scrap while I was rummaging through my sister’s craft supplies…I snatched it up so quick, I don’t think she even noticed!
The necklace is so simple and so much fun to make! The colour combinations just happened to work out perfectly!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- x7 natural unfinished wooden beads –1x 30mm; 2x 25mm bead, 2x 15mm, 2x 10mm
- x6 wooden beads or wood balls – 4x 15mm, 2x 10mm
- 48” long piece of scrap fabric at least 3” wide – preferably silk or a similar lightweight fabric
- 1 cup blueberries (for dyeing wooden beads)
- 1 cup salt (for colour fixative)
- Large and Small cooking pot
- Sewing machine and matching thread
INSTRUCTIONS:
How to Make a Natural Dye:
Prepare Dye: Add 1 cup of blueberries to cooking pot. Add double the amount of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for one hour. Strain.
Colour Fixative: To get beads ready for dyeing, you will need to soak beads in a color fixative before dyeing. Colour fixative consists of ⅛ cup salt to 2 cups cold water. Add beads to fixative and simmer for one hour. Rinse the beads in cold water before adding to dye bath.
Dye Bath: Place wet beads in dye bath. Simmer together until desired color is obtained. I simmered my beads for one hour and than left the beads to soak overnight. I found the beads would float to top so in order to keep them submerged, I covered them with a old cotton fabric scrap. Note: the actual colour will be lighter when its dry.
Prepare Silk fabric for necklace
Cut fabric scrap into long rectangular strip: 3” wide x 48” long. Fold fabric strip in half and sew along edge with 1/2” seam allowance. Turn stitched fabric strip inside out (use a safety pin to help feed fabric inside out). Now fabric tube is ready to be assembled into a necklace.
Instructions for Assembling Necklace:
1. Thread silk tube through largest dyed bead, 35mm and center bead along silk
2. Insert 1x 15mm wooden bead into silk tube on either side of center bead; push bead all the way until it meets center bead
3. Continue threading dyed beads and inserting unfinished beads around necklace (working from center outward). Tip – use a narrow skewer to help push fabric through smaller dyed beads
4. When all beads are used and desired look is achieved, necklace is almost finished!
5. Fold raw edges of silk tube ends under and hand sew edges closed
Wear and Enjoy!
