Wiksten Made: Easy, Cool D.I.Y. Necklaces: Lucky Right Now: luckymag.com

Wiksten Made: Easy, Cool D.I.Y. Necklaces

2:00 PM, February 08 2010 by Lucky Staffers

Brooklyn-based Jenny Gordy spends most of her time designing the adorable, knit-heavy collection Wiksten, but in her spare moments she also authors an equally impressive blog, wikstenmade.blogspot.com. This week, she's sharing loads of chic DIY projects and cool retro-ish finds on Lucky Right Now.

You'd think that since I design clothing for a living I should be fashionable all the time. The truth is that I can be lazy with my outfits, and often end up wearing t-shirts because I want to be comfortable while I'm hunched over my sewing machine all day. That's why I've become obsessed with jewelry--a cool necklace can make even a simple tee look super chic.

Right now I'm really into yarn and string with variegated colors, which I've used to create a fun D.I.Y. necklace. Each piece I made only cost me a couple of dollars. How great is that?

Here's what you'll need:

-Embroidery floss or thin yarn
-Fray Check
-Raw brass beads
-Raw brass lobster clasps and jumprings
-Scissors
-Felt balls and an awl (only for the felt ball necklace)

You can find Fray Check and variegated embroidery floss at a craft or sewing store. If you don't want to use up stash yarn, Purl in Soho has great yarn, such as the Habu and Koigu I used. I bought all my beads and findings at Metalliferous, but Ornamentea has good ones too as well as felt balls.

Step 1: Cut a 24" length of string. The finished necklace will be about 20" long, but you'll need more for tying knots. If you're doing a braided style, cut three 24" lengths of string and braid them together.

Step 2: Thread three beads onto your string or braid. If you're making the felt ball necklace, you will need to use your awl to make a hole in each felt ball before you string them.

Step 3: Tie your jumpring at one end of the necklace by knotting it about three to six times. Tie the clasp to the other end the same way. Trim the excess string at the end of the knots, and seal the knots together by dabbing them with Fray Check. For the felt ball necklace, just tie the ends in a double knot.