silk organza necklace toot.

a sad day has arrived. the end of spring break has come and gone. my fellow special ed teacher and friend, emily, and i commemorated the end of our lazy break with a craft. here's what we did and how we did it:

if my tutorial is too confusing, feel free to check out the original source.

step 1) gather your tools. you're going to need 1 1/3 yards of silk organza or tulle, a silver clasp, flexible memory wire, and wire cutters.

step 2) cut your fabric. tip: don't use kitchenaid meat scissors to cut your fabric. not speaking from experience... you are going to need four 3" x 44" strips and eighteen 2" x 44" strips. do NOT worry about cutting perfectly straight lines. my non-measuring habits crept in, which created some wonky edges, but that's okay. also, you'll probably need a dog companion to oversee your work. meet gerty's best friend, wrigley.

step 3) fold the 3"-wide strips in half lengthwise, then accordion-fold them every 1 1/2" until you have four 1 1/2" x 1 1/2" squares. use a pin to secure your little accordion bundles. country living suggests using safety pins, but straight pins are much easier. repeat this process with your 2" fabric strips. fold in half lengthwise, then accordion-style every 1" until you have eighteen 1" x 1" fabric squares.

step 4)
thread 22" or so of wire onto a sewing needle. the original tutorial calls for 17" of wire, but your necklace will turn out to be more of a choker if you go with that length. emily and i wanted a little more length, but to each his own. also, the tutorial does not suggest using a sewing needle, but you will want to. trust me. thread 9 of your small bundles onto the wire. then thread all 4 of your large bundles onto the wire. finish by threading the remaining 9 small bundles onto the wire. keep the straight pins in your bundles while you do this.

step 5) secure your clasps to the ends of the wire by tying a few tight knots. remove any excess wire with your wire cutters. remove the straight pins from the bundles, fluff it up a bit and you should be good to go.

clearly the necklace pairs well with a greasy face and scrubby sweatshirt, but i'd probably recommend wearing it with a simple t-shirt or tank. this necklace is nice because it's really soft and lightweight. the fabric comes in a lot of different colors, so feel free to play around a bit and create this fluffy necklace for any occasion.