Quick Chiffon Chain Necklace

I love combining things together that initially don’t seem to go together. Embroidery and jute, lace and leather, and in the case of this necklace, chiffon and chain. It kind of makes things more interesting.

I love the pairing in this necklace of the soft chiffon and the chunky chain – what do you think?

I found this necklace at Ann Taylor Loft and knew I had to recreate it. You can see the original here. I actually found it in the store but couldn’t get a picture. Does it make anyone else feel awkward to always be snapping pictures of things in shops? I wonder what the sales people think.

I like what Donna over at Funky Junk Interiors said in a recent post. She mentioned that she wished we had blogger ID’s. Can you see me whipping out my special ID ?

“Hello sales person. Really, it’s OK, I’m a craft blogger. I’m taking a picture of this adorable but overpriced item so that I can copy it for a fraction of the cost. And I’m going to teach all my friends how to do it too. K? (insert perky head tilt here)”. No? Maybe not. Maybe I’ll just be sneaky.

Wow – enough rambling. Ready for a tutorial? This one is soooo easy. I’m talking an hour tops. Maybe two if you’re caught up in an episode of So You Think You Can Dance.

You’ll need:

14″ of chunky chain
small piece of light colored chiffon
small piece of dark colored chiffon
8″ tiny chain
48″ of black twill tape
needle and thread
fray check

Start with the chunky chain. If you’re working with a longer piece, just separate one of the links with small pliers and you can make sure you have 14″ of chain.

Cut 2 pieces of chiffon. Out of the lighter fabric cut a 16″ x 2″ piece. Out of the darker fabric cut a 16″ x 3″ piece.

Layer the two fabrics, with the lighter piece centered on top of the darker. Fold it in half and run a gathering stitch 1/2″ down from the fold, along the long edge. Knot the thread but don’t cut it.

Thread the chain through the loop you’ve made in the fabric, centering the gathered fabric in the middle of chain. Your gathered fabric should measure about 8 inches.

Lay the tiny chain on top of the gathering stitches and sew it down, taking small stitches through each loop of the chain and catching it in the fabric underneath. (You could also add a row of rhinestones or some other trim here.)

Cut the twill tape into 2 – 24″ pieces. Thread one end of tape through the end loop of the chain and knot it. Repeat with the other side. On the reverse side of the tape, fold the short ends in and with tiny stitches, sew down the end.

In the sewing process your chiffon will have frayed a bit, which is all good. But if it’s gotten a little out of hand, trim the threads. Apply fray check to the ends of all the fabric and the ends of your twill tape ties.