This necklace is inspired by a piece my friend Jenn was wearing to Stitch N Bitch a few weeks ago. I loved it. Luckily, I had just bought a chunky black bead necklace at the thrift store to repurpose the beads and hadn’t designated a project for them yet. I also had some teal lace I got in the remnant section at the fabric store. It was a match made in heaven, and I’m passing this simple project on to you!
The supplies needed for this project include big plastic beads, a piece of lace measuring about 3 inches wide and 24 to 36 inches long, a long small gauge needle, heavy duty thread, and a thread matching your lace.
Start out by tying a knot in the end of the lace. With your needle threaded with heavy duty thread, sew through the knot. Thread the first bead on to the thread.
Once you have your bead down very close to the knot, stitch through the lace, and keep the needle on the opposite side of the lace from the bead.
Keeping the thread out of the way, twist the tightly to keep the bead wrapped in the lace, then tie a knot in the lace.
Sew through this knot with your heavy duty thread and thread another bead onto the thread.
Keep repeating this pattern until your necklace is the desired length. I made mine very short so that the beads rest on my collar bone, Jenn’s was very very, long.
Then you switch to the matching thread on your needle and stitch through the knot in the lace.
Neatly whip stitch the gap in the lace with the matching thread so that the finish is very clean. When you come to each knot stitch through it and continue onto the next bead until the whole necklace is stitched up.
Cut off the thread and look at your awesome necklace! Now here is the embarrassing part. I don’t know the best way to make a clasp for this, so for the moment I have these shaggy ends remaining on the necklace, and I am pinning it to my neck with a safety pin. If anyone (Colleen?) has a suggestion for how to finish this off, I’ll be grateful. In the meantime, enjoy your pinned on lace and bead necklace. The front is so beautiful no one will notice the pin in the back!
It may look cool to tie a bow with the lace or with some ribbon to finish it off. It would look so pretty at the back of your neck.
By the way, this is really cool.
A black satin ribbon would be awesome! Good call Ellie!
Very fancy! Great idea, and thanks for being bold and sharing your unfinished project.
My favorite way to finish the ends is to use an end cap (the type where you glue the ribbon inside & it has a loop on the outside). You then attach your clasps to the loops with jump rings. Here’s a link to the end caps section in Fire Mountain Gems: http://www.firemountaingems.com/shopping.asp?skw=KWFNTERMINATESPENDCAP
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