Welcome to the second Wonderful Wednesday, where I highlight a fantastic crafter. Today I would like to introduce you to the amazing
Lei @ My Many Colored Days!
****
Hey there everybody! My name is Lei. I come from a land called My Many Colored Days. I’m a mom to 4 colorful children and I live a wildly colorful life… I love running, reading, writing, mothering, creating, photographing, baking, teaching, yoga and playing the violin/viola. Not all at once though – haha! I am really excited to be here at Jen’s place today sharing this fun tutorial with you. Hope you have a ton of fun with it! My inspiration for this project came from a necklace I saw in the Boden USA catalog (photo below). Boden is a collection of clothing and accessories which I love… but is too pricey for me. Since it was love at first sight with this necklace, I knew I needed to tried to try and recreate a likeness of it for myself – but for much less money!
Here is how I switched it up and made it my own. I went with a bracelet rather than a necklace, and mixed and matched the fabrics to make it a little funkier. I loved the gray color scheme, so I stuck with that. But I will definitely be trying this with some more colorful fabrics as well! Heaven knows I love me some color.
Here’s what I used:
snippets of ribbon and fabric – for the tubes, about 2 in. long, and varying widths
needle/thread
hot glue
ribbon and fabric for the flowers, 8-10 in. long
buttons
chain link bracelet to attach the tubes to
And here is what I did. First, I formed the tubes. I rolled about 2 in. of both fabric and ribbon for mine.
*Note: the fabric was easier to work with and the tubes came out a little cleaner.* To secure the tubes I used hot glue. (Fabric glue takes too long to dry.) I suspect that Boden stitched their’s (you can sort of see a stitch in the center of their tubes). But because I wanted a true tube I chose to hot glue mine. If you go this route, do not hot glue right on the edge of your ribbon, leave a bit of a tail – like this:
And here’s why : as you continue to roll the tube closed the glue will ooze outward giving you a more secure seal. If you don’t leave a tail, the hot glue will leave a sloppy, goopy looking seal.
(Geez, is everyone’s hot glue gun as grody as mine is? It is definitely not in picture form! Lol.)
After I formed my tubes and decided which pattern I wanted them in, I formed the flowers. Again, I used both ribbon and fabric for a more eclectic look. I love the finished edge of ribbon for flowers and corsages. But a ragged, shabby edge is fun too! If you don’t know how to make these flowers, here is a quick review.
Stitch along one side of the ribbon or flower, like so:
As you go, cinch the ribbon/fabric to form pleats or ruffles:
When your flower has reached the fullness you would like, stitch it closed to form a circle. And voila, a flower. Once the flowers were formed, I hot glued a button to the center of each of them (I made 3).
The final step is to assemble the bracelet. Again there are a few ways you could do this. I happened to have a very plain and simple chain link bracelet that I never wear. So I threaded my tubes together (staggering them a bit for fun) and attached the string of tubes to the bracelet… a few stitches every couple of links reinforced with a dab of more hot glue. You could just thread them together and attach some kind of closure or make a ribbon tie like our original. Since it’s kind of a chunky bracelet, I didn’t make the ribbon closure (even though I love it!). I just thought it might be too much.
Here is a photo of the back of my bracelet so you can get an idea of what I did:
You could also thread the flowers between the tubes. I mounted mine on top of the tubes with, you guessed it, hot glue. 😀
And here is the finished product!
Aren’t those tubes cool lookin’? I love them! Many a fun project could be made using tubes… 😉
Thanks so much Jen for letting me share. I love getting ideas from others as well! So please stop by My Many Colored Days sometime and say hi so I can come see your fun projects as well!
Thanks so much for guest posting today Lei!
GO over to Lei’s wonderful blog and give her some bloggy love!!!
Lei, feel free to take this button for sharing your tutorial with us!!!
XOXO
OHMYGOSH! This is adorable! TFS
That is just the cutest darn thing. I love it! Not sure I'm brave enough to try it.
love it, lei!! fantastic job, as always!
cool looks simple enough!
i would love for you to feature my striped bias cut ruffle collar dress tutorial…!
and unrelated, but i would love if you could stop by my blog and help me name my charming girlie-sofa!! a little gift for the perfect namer too!! 🙂
http://missbblogs.blogspot.com/2010/04/new-girl-in-town_06.html
I love it…what a cool idea! Thanks for sharing it with us Lei.
~Amanda
These are just so pretty! I am not a jewelry 'person' (as in I only wear my wedding band & engagement ring everyday) but these are lovely to look at….and they might tempt me into wearing one 😉
Super cute & super fun!! Great project :)!
Blessings,
Stacey
I darling Jenn! How DARLING is this! I am so going to make one…Shabby Chic style of course! I'll post it when done!
xo Molly
oh lots of fun! 🙂
cute, love it!
OHmyGeez! All these adorable bracelets! I just can't stand it. I sorta think I might could…maybe…pull this one off. She's just using a needle and thread, surely I could use a needle and thread. I definitely know my way around a hot glue gun, so there is a shimmer of hope. 🙂
LOVE the tubes! Very cool texture and awesome fabrics! The whole thing looks chunky…which is my FAV! 🙂 Great design! Thanks for sharing!
OOOOH!! LOVE it! And even more b/c I don't need a sewing machine!! lol 🙂
That is VERY pretty! Nice tutorial!
That bracelet is so lovely, thanks for sharing it and the tutorial.
I love that you share such great talent with us all!! I love stopping by and seeing what great craft you have found to show! Love this!
Hugs,
Victoria
I just fixed the link to her blog. So feel free to go over and say hi to Lei!
XOXO
Jen
I love it.
Thanks, lei.
Fun project! Just so you know, the link to Lei's site is misspelled (blgospot) so it doesn't take you there. Love the bracelet!
This is amazing! I love the tubes! So neat!!!
Thanks Jen! It was my pleasure. What's a great idea if you can't share it with others? You know what I'm talkin' about! I have some praise for you on my blog today. 🙂
I am not one for big chunky jewelry, but this I have got to make. Love it.
Very cute! I love the buttons!
Wow…love it!!!
BELLISSIMO!GRAZIE!