Diy 'Akela' Necklace

Inspired by the Akela necklace at Anthropologie - but no way i'm paying $40 for it!

Posted by katcar~

About

I saw this necklace and loved it, but i hated the price tag. I'm a jobless teenager, do they really want me to pay $40 for a necklace?? It looked simple enough, so i came up with my own rendition! :)

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You Will Need (4 things)

  • Candle (optional)
  • Sewing Machine
  • Bead(s) of your choice
  • T Shirt or other cloth

Steps (10 steps, 45 minutes)

  1. 1

    Get your cloth, flip it inside out, fold, and sew a tube about 1/2 inch thick. Then, take the tube and flip it right side out. This might take a while, but it's the hardest part of the project, i promise! You might need more than one of these (I used 3).

  2. 2

    Tie a knot about three inches from one of the ends, then slide a bead into the tube and down above the knot. Tie another know, and it should look like the picture.

  3. 3

    Do that as much as you like, and just repeat the process. Remember that your beads don't have to match - they won't be visible. They should just be around the same size. Here are some of the random beads i used!

  4. 4

    When you get close to the end of a tube, leave about 3 inches again, and then put one bead in. Don't tie a knot over the bead this time.

  5. 5

    Take your second tube, and tie a knot with the end of the first tube and the end of the second tube. Then you can trim so it's not visibly very different than the other knots.

  6. 6

    Keep going until you want to stop; you can decide how long you want the necklace. Mine ended up looking like this. Not very fabulous, but it's not done yet ;) When you're done beading and knotting, sew the ends together to get the necklace shape.

  7. 7

    Now we're going to make the flower(s). On the original necklace, they're just flower shapes cut out of cloth bunched together and added onto the necklace like beads. I didn't feel like making it like that. I mixed the techniques of Stacie G. and maize hutton and came up with this: Use a running stitch on a scrap strip of matching fabric. Scrunch up as you stitch along.

  8. 8

    Using your candle, burn the edges. Mine turned a weird brown colour, which i was not expecting haha, but that's okay.

  9. 9

    Shape it into a flower, and stitch it in place. Then you can sew a bead into the middle. I used a wooden bead that looked like a cheerio and matched the colour of the burned trim.

  10. 10

    Sew the flower over one of the knots from tying the two tubes together. Then you're done! Enjoy your new statement piece :)