How to Make Fabric Bead Jewelry

Create beautiful bead jewelry with leftover fabrics.

Beautiful and creative jewelry is easy to make and does not need to cost a small fortune. Making fabric bead jewelry is a wonderful, frugal way to use scraps of fabric from other crafts. You can make a fabric bead necklace and earring set to match a completed handmade outfit by using small bits of leftover fabric from the sewing project. Create simple fabric beads and jewelry as a pleasant and relaxing activity while watching television.

Things You'll Need

• Lightweight cotton fabric scrap
• Marking pen
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Fabric stiffener
• Resealable sandwich bag
• Wax paper
• Toothpick
• Embroidery floss
• Embroidery needle
• 102 1/8-inch beads
• 2 2-inch head pins
• 2 needle-nose pliers
• 2 jump rings
• 1 pair fishhook earring findings

Instructions

1. Lay a scrap of lightweight cotton fabric wrong-side up on your work table. Draw a grid of rectangles, each 1/2 inch wide by 1 inch long, on the fabric using a marking pen and ruler. Each rectangle will create one 1/2-inch bead. You will need 15 beads for a necklace and a pair of earrings. Cut out each of the rectangles with scissors.

2. Pour a 1/4 cup of fabric stiffener in a resealable sandwich bag. Place one rectangle at a time in the bag and submerge it in the stiffener. Pull the fabric out of the bag and squeeze out the excess liquid. Place two sheets of wax paper on your work surface: one you will make your beads on and one you will place the beads to dry.

3. Lay a wet rectangle on the wax paper on your work surface, and place the length of a toothpick on one 1/2-inch edge of the rectangle. Roll the length of the fabric around the toothpick, creating a bead. Slide the bead off the toothpick and place it on the other wax paper sheet to dry. Continue saturating each rectangle and rolling a total of 15 beads.

4. Cut a 36-inch length of embroidery floss in a color of your choice. Thread one end of the floss on an embroidery needle, and knot the other end of the floss.

5. Thread the beads on the floss, using the embroidery needle as a guide. Thread three 1/8-inch beads on the floss, and slide them down to the end knot. If the knot is small and slides inside the hole of the bead, tie additional knots over the first one to build it up larger than the hole. Tie another knot above the last bead threaded. Repeat with additional knots over the top of the first, if needed.

6. Measure 5 inches from the last knot made and make another knot. Build up the knot, if needed. Thread eight more 1/8-inch beads on the floss. Create a pattern of one fabric bead and six 1/8-inch beads. Continue this pattern, ending with the 13th fabric bead.

7. Thread eight 1/8-inch beads on the floss and tie a knot. Build up the knot, if needed. Measure 5 inches from the last knot made and make another knot. Build up the knot, if needed. Thread three 1/8-inch beads on the floss and knot the floss. Build up the knot, if needed. Cut off the excess floss. Tie the 5-inch ends of the necklace together in a knot to complete the necklace.

8. Make matching earrings. Thread an 1/8-inch bead on a 2-inch head pin. Add a fabric bead and three more 1/8-inch beads. This will leave a 1/2 inch on the head pin. Grasp the tip of the head pin with the tip of needle-nose pliers and twist into a loop. Thread another head pin in the same way and create a loop for the other earring.

9. Grasp each side of the connecting ends on a jump ring using the tips of two needle-nose pliers. Slightly twist the pliers to opposite sides, opening the ring. Slip the loop on a fishhook earring finding on the jump ring. Slip the loop of one beaded head pin on the jump ring. Grasp the connecting ends of the jump ring with the needle-nose pliers and gently close the ring. Repeat the process for the other fishhook earring for a matching pair.