Freehand Scraps November Kit | Funky Junky Necklace Tutorial

Hi All,

Thought I'd share a little tutorial for those of you who are into the latest trend of vintage goodness. When I first got my Freehand Scraps November kit to play with, and saw all of the vintage crocheted lovelies, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them! My sweet and uber-talented friend, Lexi, made an adorable necklace from old buttons and May Arts ribbon earlier this year, and that piece was a source of inspiration for this necklace.

Supplies needed:

sewing machine (not necessary as one can hand stitch but speeds up the process)

crocheted flowers and houndstooth floral embellishments from "Sweater Weather" Freehand Scraps November kit 

scissors

needlenose pliers

vintage buttons/or "new like old" ;)

doily 

 2 grommets/eyelets

neutral colored/cream/off-white felt for structural support (you can purchase at any craft store for about 25 cents)

jewelry chain and clasp (craft store-Hobby Lobby for me but can find elsewhere-I used my 40% off coupon to help defray expense)

Tea bags or Tim Holtz walnut ink for dying doily

Glass bowl (for teadying) 

Embroidery floss and needle

After gathering your supplies, begin by dying your doily for a more vintage feel to it. This is totally creative preference here and optional. My doily was white and I really was looking for a more vintage feel, so I decided to dye it an off white/cream color. I began by adding 2 large tea bags to a cup or two of water and let it steep for a few minutes.

 I placed the doily in  the solution, and let it soak up the dye for a few minutes, checking it periodically until I got the color I desired.

 After a few minutes, I got a bit impatient (me? never!) and decided to add some Tim Holtz Walnut Ink from a spray bottle into the solution.                                          
 Here's the doily half after dying. You will want to roll it in paper towels or hang outside to dry (weather permitting).

And a before and after for comparison:

Next cut out a half circle of felt sized just smaller than the doily. Place against back side of doily and fold over the top edge of doily onto felt and stitch.  

Here's what the piece looks like from the back side after stitching:

 Next, punch two holes at each top corner of the doily and add grommets. You don't have to do this, but it provides added support for the chain to go through. Punch the holes as far out as possible. This will help ensure that the necklace lays as flat as possible across the neckline. I had mine too far in at first and had to try again! (And that's ok! Creating is a learning process.)  Play around with your embellishments until you get the look you want, then stitch (enter in embroidery floss and needle) the buttons and crocheted embellishments in place to the doily/felt piece. It's ok if the stitching shows through on the back side, no one is going to see it (unless you show them). ;)

Now for the "hardware." These are the packages of what I used:

To add the embellished doily to the chain open up one of the links to the chain with a needle nose pliers. Place this open link into the grommet and then pinch closed with the pliers. Adjust the length of the necklace to your liking by removing links as you go. I eyed up how low I wanted my necklace to hang and then removed links until I got to the desired look. Add the  jewelry clasp onto the chain link with the needle nose pliers. 

Here is a pic of the piece being worn. I had my son crop off my old neck to spare you the turkey neck. LOL ;)

 Another view. Please ignore the dust on my lampshade. LOL

Post-production, I now realize this tutorial would have been better taught in a different medium-that being, a video. I think it would have been easier for you to see the steps of how I altered the chain links in the necklace and placed it all together. I am definitely going to keep that in mind for my next tutorial. Please feel free to comment or email me with questions. The whole project took me a little over an hour to make. Happy scrapping and happy altering! Feel free to link me up with your "funky junky" creations in a comment here on my blog or over at Freehand Scraps! :)