How to Make a Fabric Necklace

Do you have some special fabric at home?  Maybe you still have a small piece of your baby blanket, maybe you kept one of your child's favorite shirts, maybe you have your grandfather's favorite handkerchief he used to tuck into his Sunday suit...

I developed a way to make simple fabric necklaces using these special bits of fabric.  My grandmother was quite the quilter in her day!  She hasn't quilted in years but she saved some tiny quilting squares that had been cut but never made it into a quilt.  I didn't know what to do with them but I knew I couldn't throw them away!

I sell kits to make these necklaces out of your own fabric.  The kits include instructions and some of the hard-to-find materials.  I thought it was time to share the instructions with you all!

Gather your materials and let's get crafting!

pendant, necklace chain, interfacing, and sponge come in the kit

Materials:

                pendant tray

                necklace chain

                fabric interfacing

                cosmetic sponge            

                fabric

                glue (I recommend Aleene’s Clear Gel Tacky Glue)

                clothing iron and ironing board

                scissors

Full instructions after the jump.

Friday DIY: Five DIY Office Organization Ideas

Hello!  Welcome to another edition of Friday DIY.  Some of my favorite DIY projects have been ways to organize my home, office, and craft storage.  I hate spending a lot of money on organizers so here are a few ideas to DIY your own organized space!

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Brooklyn Limestone created a beautiful way to use peg board in your office.  This would look great as a jewelry organizer, too!

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Head to the Dollar Store and pick up a dish rack to organize sketch books, scrap paper, binders, and coloring books.  Love this easy organizing idea from Mrs. Jones!

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I live in a very small house and I'm here to tell you that going vertical with your storage is a major space-saver!  One Creative Housewife came up with a simple solution for organizing family activities.  I really like the black and white theme - it makes the center look so much more organized!

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Real Simple is a great destination for all things organization.  I love this simple idea to improve the look and function of magazine holders.

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Head to your local thrift store to pick up a wine rack and quickly turn it into a vertical (and moveable!) desk organizer.  Thanks to My C.A.S.E. Studies for such a simple DIY!

Didn't find what you were looking for in this round up?  Pinterest is a great resource for organization ideas!  You'll find some pretty complicated tutorials on Pinterest but you'll also find some super easy ideas you can do with items you already own!

Creating

What have you been making, lately?

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I made a few more charm necklaces.  It's fun to mix and match pieces from other jewelry and my own fabric jewelry into the same piece.

I haven't been making much of anything other than the necklaces!  I find that most of my time has been spent on preparing for my craft fairs.  I scrapped the sweater I was working on.  I didn't put anything new on my needles to replace the sweater!

What do you do when you are in a crafting rut?

Handmade Harvest St. Paul

Craft Fair Time!  The show is tomorrow morning starting at 10:00!  I can't wait!

Coffee Cup Cozies or Why I Love Handmade

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I made these coffee cup cozies years ago.  They were very popular but I haven't made them in awhile.  I got the nicest conversation on Etsy the other day and I brought the cozies out of retirement just for one particular customer.  The customer said she used it for four years and LOVED it!  But, she recently lost her beloved cozy.  The first thing she did was check with my shop where she discovered I wasn't making the cozies anymore.  She looked high and low but couldn't find anything else she liked half as much.  THIS is why I love handmade.  THIS is why I run my shop.

Craft Fair Display: Take 2

Here's a look at my newest craft fair table display.

This is one of the shots I took with my phone after I had gotten the display looking how I wanted it.  If you do craft fairs, I highly recommend setting everything up in advance and photographing how it looks.  That way, on the day of the fair, you don't need to be rushing around and trying to design it with only a short set-up time.

The biggest change from my original craft fair setup is in the necklace corner of the table.  At the last fair I mostly sold bracelets and tiny star bottles.  I think it was because people could pick them up and look at them.  All the necklaces were attached to the big black display last time and hardly anyone bought a necklace.  This time, I have them sitting out where people can hold them.

This side shows my bracelets and decorative items (star bottles, pom pom flowers, and pencil cozies).  I like having the table separated into distinct halves.  It should help people browse more easily.

My first craft fair of the fall season is in one week!  Join me at Handmade Harvest in St. Paul (at the Linwood Recreation Center)!

Friday DIY: 4 DIY Scarves

Hello!  Welcome to another edition of Friday DIY!  We have our first real cold snap of the season here and I have my mind on scarves.

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Making Lemonade wrote up a great tutorial for turning two t-shirts into this great braided scarf!

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Look at this great lace-tipped jersey scarf from Sea lo que sea!

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Look at this great scarf with fringe!  It looks easy to make and it has a great, bold look!

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You'll need your sewing machine to make this lovely ruffled scarf.

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Enjoy your weekend!  As always, if you make any of these DIYs, I'd love to see them!  Just post a link in the comments or e-mail a photo to kibbles.n.knits (at) gmail (dot) com.

Interested in seeing more Friday DIY?  Click here.