Sweet Bow Necklace Tutorial

Today's post is the last of my fabric bow tutorials for the time being.  Sad, I know, but as the end of the year approaches, my life gets increasingly crazy.  Anyway, as you may know, I have a penchant for asymmetrical designs, especially necklace designs. So I thought I would show you how to put together an asymmetrical fabric bow necklace.  This is a super quick tutorial and can be adapted to produce several different necklace looks.

Materials

- fabric to make your bow, or one ready made bow

- small felt scrap to match your bow

- delicate jewellery chain in your preferred necklace length (I made mine to be 60cm long), or you can purchase a premade chain from a craft store or supplier

- one jewellery clasp, bolt ring or lobster clasps work well

- jump rings

- jewellery pliers

Method

1.  Make your fabric bow; you can use either a no sew or a sewn bow method, whichever you prefer.  I recommend making a teeny bow for the asymmetrical necklace as this will lessen the tendency of the bow to follow gravity to the middle of your chest rather than staying to one side.  I used a bow which had a final size of approximately 3.5 x 1.5 cm.

2. Skip this step if you already have a pre-made chain necklace.  Attach the jewellery clasp to one end of your jewellery chain then attach the clasp closure to the other end of your chain.  If your clasp did not come with a matching tag or jump ring closure, simply attach a large jump ring to the other end of your chain.

3. Put on your newly made necklace chain and decide where you would like your bow to sit.  Mark this spot with a marker pen or tiny piece of tape and take the necklace off.  Cut the felt scrap into a small rectangle which will just cover the back of the bow centre.  Put a dab of fabric glue on the back of the bow and attach it perpendicular to your necklace chain at the spot you previously marked (make sure to remove your piece of tape before you do this).  Then glue your felt scrap to the back of the bow to hide the chain.

4. Allow your glue to dry and then wear your new necklace with pride!  You can subtly change the look of the bow necklace by attaching the bow lengthwise to the chain.  Those who like to make a statement with their jewellery could make a large bow and attach it to the lowest point of the necklace to give a sort of stylised bow tie look!

I thought I would include a photo of myself reluctantly modelling the Sweet Bow necklace, just to give you all a little giggle.  I say reluctantly because I loathe taking self-portraits and I was seriously struggling with the lighting today!  For those of you who don't feel up to making one of these cute necklaces yourself, I will soon be adding a range of them to my stores (see the sidebar) and am happy to take custom orders if you want to contact me via email.