Making embroidered jewellery

Hello there and oh boy is it hot! Almost too hot to sew, but perhaps not quite. I have been so inspired by things I have seen lately that I have been tinkering with making some pretty little things. I am such an ‘Accessories’ girl and love mixing and matching bits and bobs in my long curated collection. However, actually making fabric jewellery probably began a while ago actually when I made my first little pendant bag necklace….

I have worn this so much and it is a lovely layering piece. There is a posting about it here. I went on to make another one, this time with a more botanical theme and it is so sweet and charming and a lot of fun to wear.

Having seen a bracelet that the Princess of Wales wore on her trip to Italy recently that had a ‘Liberty’ fabric tie strap, I was keen to try something with this idea and this coupled with other inspiration from Japanese embroidery sites and the wonderful ‘Selvedge’ publication, I set out to try and make a narrow embroidered bracelet.

Using silk fabric (backed with iron-on woven interfacing), seed beads and metallic thread it was just the loveliest little thing to work on and a matching scrap of Liberty fabric did the job perfectly for the strap. As soon as it was done, I made a couple more over the next few days…

This one has a real summer holiday vibe and the thing about them is that they are light and easy to take on travels when perhaps you prefer to leave more valuable things at home.

My daughter in law chose these colours for her bracelet and it would be fabulous with jeans or a denim dress. I love how you can make something like this so individual and experiment with tiny motifs. So next I decided to try a smaller pendant and this time I picked a coral silk to go with my favourite coral beads (that belonged to my mother) which I wear all the time in summer.

One of the best things about making tiny things like this is that you can rummage around in your crafting supplies and find all sorts of things to use. This time I incorporated a vintage button, sequins, pearls, tiny glass charms and irridescent beads and a few natural stones. Silk threads are just pure joy to work with and I made it open ended with silk ribbon and threads and a vintage button to finish the ends off.

Random motifs and a scattering of beads makes it a unique piece and yet it is tailored to match summer accessories that last year after year. The chain is crocheted using Anchor metallic thread and you simply thread an assortment of beads and charms on to the yarn before you begin and then slide them along as needed. I did put some tiny pieces of wadding in the pendant to plump it out a little, but also wouldn’t it be fun to put miniature messages inside to a loved one or dear friend. The possibilities are endless.

This little piece shimmers and sparkles in the sunshine and is just perfect for the long hazy days ahead. I will definitely be making more as gifts and experimenting further to see what kind of patterns and designs I can make. It looks beautiful layered with real jewellery too for an altogether personal look. All in all it was the perfect little project to fit in between house renovations, visitors and day to day summer life by the sea.

Hope you have enjoyed this post and here are some useful links:

For silk fabric, the Silk Route have packs of small pieces in coordinating colours which are just perfect for this sort of work - you can find them here.

Selvedge magazine is a bimonthly publication that showcases everything to do with textiles and independent makers and I love it. You can find a link to their site here .

The metallic yarn I used for the chain is available here in a variety of colours to go with your jewellery.

I have a dressmaking project on the cutting table as I write so hope you will pop back soon to see how that is going. Meanwhile enjoy the heat wave. See you soon, Ruby x