Fabric Necklace for Mom


So, pin this one for next year, because it's a keeper!  These sweet Mother's Day necklaces turned out even better than I expected.  I used this tutorial that was tweaked by Mary Allison at Sew Memphis and then I tweaked it some more to be kid-friendly.

Materials Needed:
*cotton fabric strip cut 4.5 inches wide from selvedge to selvedge (the extra width here is to accommodate for kid-sewing as well as making sure the fabric is wide enough for the beads to fit easily)
*24 inches of ribbon, cut in half (so 2 pieces of 12 inches each)
*safety pin
*sewing machine

To get it ready for my class, I precut the fabric into strips and ironed them in half (so the strips are 2-1/4 inches wide) with the good sides together.  This made it a lot easier to machine sew down the open edge.  They used the presser foot as their guide.

Next, you turn the tube right side out.  The quickest and easiest way I found was to use a safety pin one end and just push and pull it to the other end.  Here is a good tutorial if you need more info.  I had to do this step for most of the kids.

Next, tie a knot on end of the tube about 2 inches or so down.  Put a wooden bead inside of the tube and push it down.  Next, tie a knot.  Repeat these steps until you are at the end with a little left.  End with a knot. 

Time to add the ribbon.  First, line up the two ends and trim off the longer one.

Next, fold in the ends and slip a piece of ribbon into the fold at least a 1/2 inch down.  Sew across the ends, making sure to backstitch.

Look!  A pretty necklace!  I, of course, had fun shopping for the fabric at Sew Memphis.  I choose fabrics that appealed to both the kids and moms.  I even made one for my own mom!

While we made this for Mother's Day, it's a perfect anytime necklace.  I'm thinking we may make them during Sewing School camp.  All the girls wanted one for themselves!

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