DIY Bubblegum Necklace {Tutorial}

My daughter, like most little girls, loves her some jewelry. And while she mostly wears it while dressing up, she has started wanting to wear necklaces and bracelets out and about, just like Mommy. I love the cute, colorful bubblegum necklaces that are so popular now, but my daughter can be a little rough on her jewlery {after all, she is only 4 and a half} and I was worried about the necklace breaking. Plus, my daughter has a tendency to put her necklaces in her mouth, and I didn't like the idea of her chewing on plastic beads.

So I made her a fabric-covered bubblegum necklace using wooden beads. Safe to chew and no worries about the string breaking and colorful beads flying everywhere. And also--super cute! A trifecta of winning.

This necklace took no time at all to make and turned out adorable. I let my daughter pick out the fabric and she has already lined up the next few fabric patterns to turn into more jewelry. A girl's gotta have options.

To make your own bubblegum necklace you will need:

-Wooden beads {the ones I used were 20 mm from JoAnn's}
- Fabric
- Ruler
- Cutting device {my rotary cutter worked like a charm}

First, cut your fabric down to size. Since I was using 20 mm sized wooden beads, I cut my fabric 3 inches wide and 46 inches long. This length {the length of most fabrics} was the perfect size for my almost-5-year-old's neck.

Next, fold the fabric in half, wrong sides together, and stitch down the long, open side. I moved my needle over two spaces to the right and sewed using a 1/4 inch seam allowance. This way I didn't have to worry about trimming the seam line.

Turn your fabric tube inside out {I like to attach a safety pin to one end to help aid in the turning} and then start adding your wooden beads.

On either side of the bead, tie a knot.

Then, just keep adding more beads...

...and tying more knots until you are happy with the necklace. I used 7 for my daughter's necklace.

To finish it off, simply turn the ends in on themselves.

And then sew them shut.

That's it!

 Just tie the ends together in either a bow or simple knot and you are done.

My daughter loves this necklace and I think it turned out so stinkin' cute. I love seeing her get all dolled up to go to Target.

This is definitely the kind of project that I love--simple, using things I have on hand, and really enjoyed by my daughter. Plus, the use of fabric {one of my weaknesses...I am a total fabric hoarder} just makes me so happy.

I may have to make one {or two} for me.

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