Love the look of this fabric necklace! The best part about these fabric necklaces is that they are really easy to make. The kids and I made a bunch together – a good project for winter break to keep us busy. Keep in mind, this isn’t a good project for the littlest helpers because the beads are small and could be a choking hazard.

The inspiration for these necklaces comes from a sweet lady that I met at a Christmas Festival. She makes adorable bags and beaded necklaces from bandannas. Her necklaces were a little different than these, but super cute! (If she had a website, I would reference it here.) Another site with some similar necklace ideas is HowDoesShe. Her necklaces use marbles and knots instead of beads for a little different look.

Materials Needed

• cotton or other thin fabric, measuring approx. 3 1/2 ” x 42″ (42″ is the width of most cotton fabrics, making it easy to measure)
• assorted wood beads ( I used 4 for the necklace pictured)
• decorative beads with large holes (I used a package of 3, actually 5 but 2 were too small to use)

Assembling the Fabric Necklace

To get started, fold the fabric strip lengthwise and sew a tube. Beginning at one end, round the corner to form a point.

Sew a few inches, then stop and leave a gap (this is where we’ll slide the beads in).

Then, continue the rest of the strip and make a point on the other end.

Trim the ends. (Ignore my messy stitches on the end 🙂 )

Turn the strip inside out. I use a really long knitting needle and it works great.

Make sure to use the flat (not pointy) side for turning inside out, then use the pointed end to GENTLY poke out the corners.

I stand the knitting needle up on a towel and gently pull down the outside fabric and it turns it inside out pretty quickly.

Now the fun part – adding the beads!

I like to line up the beads in the order I’m going to string them. If I don’t, I inevitably mess it up. Originally, I was going to use 5 silver beads, but two of them didn’t fit over the fabric so I had to adjust. There is no right number of beads – use whatever you like. I like to add knots on the end of each beaded section, but beads can also be used – either works well.

For this combination, start by adding a wooden bead for the inside first.

Next, add the decorative bead.

Follow along with the pattern until you have all the beads strung.

Make sure the beads are centered on the fabric strip.

Tie a knot on each end.

The fabric will be all wrinkly from sliding the beads over it, so it’s a good idea to iron it nice and flat.

Stitch the opening closed either by hand or a small machine stitch close to the edge.

Loosely tie the ends together and the necklace is ready to wear. Love that these are adjustable too.

Here are a few others that we made: