My neighbor “Crafty Jane” has an amazing sewing camp for the little girls each summer, where the girls sign up for a daily dose of learning to sew from “Miss Jane”. Jane teaches the girls how to hand sew and to use a machine and it’s really amazing how quickly the little ones pick up sewing. Miss Jane is the coolest teacher ever and truly has a special gift with these girls.
My daughter Bella came home from camp with these absolutely adorable fabric covered necklaces and bracelets that she made with Jane and it is one of the cutest kid projects that I have ever seen. I was so excited when Jane agreed to share this project with us today and it was so much fun for me to go in and photograph and sew with the girls yesterday.
This project is really is as easy as they look.
The sweet girls even modeled for me, so you can see all of their creations;
They are just the cutest!
If you want to do this project with your child, it’s so easy. To get started, this is what you’ll need;
For necklaces and bracelet part, you only need to cut a piece of fabric approximately 50 inches long and 3.5 inches wide (necklace) or 30 inches long and 3.5 inches wide (for the 1/2 inch bead or ball)(for the 1 inch bead or ball, go up a 1/2 inch on your width to). Jane had two sizes of wood balls (or beads) for us to choose from 1/2 inch and 1 inch size:
The bracelets were made with the 1/2 inch ball and the necklaces were made with the 1 inch ball. Jane said almost any kind of old bead would work and wood beads or balls can be picked up at the craft store.
Next, fold your fabric strip over length wise and stitch up the sides with the sewing machine or by hand. I think it could be hot glued together (not too much glue) as well if you do not want to sew:
After you have secured the sides of the strip, turn the fabric back inside out so the pretty part of the fabric is an the outside. Next, tie a not about 2-3 inches (for bracelets) from the end like this:
For necklaces, you will need to allow at least 8-10 inches because this end is what ties around the neck or wrist to secure the piece. Now you can begin dropping in the balls and tying. You drop in, tie, drop in, tie until you get your desired length:
As you can see above, we are making a bracelet for this example and for a little girl’s wrist, all that is needed is four of the wooden balls/beads.
Next, you can make a quick flower by taking about 2-3 square fabric panels (for bracelets) or 4-6 panels for necklaces that have been cut 2″ x 2″. You can mix up your flowers by cutting two different patterns of fabric:
Draw a daisy pattern on one for your template and cut out your stack of flowers and stack them so the petals and spread out, layer by layer like this:
add an “X” stitch in the middle of your flowers to secure them together. Next, fold the flower in half and stitch across the bottom. This will help your flowers be full:
When your flower is done, you can stitch it where ever you would like on your necklace or bracelet:
When you are finished, all you have to do is tie it around the child’s wrist or neck and sheer the excess fabric beyond the not. I just cut up towards the know and got these cut little fabric sheered pieces:
As you can see, you can mix and match fabrics and tie/stitch a different piece of fabric at the ends as well to mix it up, like this necklace below:
This is such a fun and easy project and a big thank you to Crafty Jane for sharing this project and for the sweet girls for being my models:
Next week, I’ll be sharing a round-up of all of the summer craft projects that I have shared over the years for project ideas to help you keep the kids busy.
Thanks for stopping by today friends!!
Cheers!
Cyndy
Lauren@SimplyLKJ says
Their creations are just darling!