Top: Emerson @ BigW

Skirt: Youtheary Khmer

Shoes: Wittner

Necklace: DIY

Yes! Hi! Hello! Not dead, obviously!

Two weeks since my last post. Bad blogger.

This year is just racing away, I can’t believe it’s almost October, though I’m glad to see the blossoms in the trees, the warmer days, the light that lingers into the evening.

I bought this skirt while I was in New York at FFFWeek, and this is the first time it’s really been warm enough to wear it. I snapped it up during the Curves In The City Shopping event at the same time as Dani picked up the hot pink maxi version (which is an absolute showstopper!)

It’s a great little chiffon number – much better quality that the cheapie that I bought from eBay – in a kind of a tannish blush with a stretch lining and a zippered fastening. I’d’ve liked it a little peachier, and a little less brown in hue, but I can play up the pink with my new coral necklace which I DIY’d using the same technique as my favourite yellow beaded necklace.

I did promise a tutorial, so here we go!

To start with, you’ll need some tiger tail beading wire: the plastic coated, kind of flexible kind, don’t buy the rigid beading wire because you want the beads to hang naturally. You’ll also need some chain (I chose antiqued bronze), some crimp beads, a clasp, and obviously the beads that want want to feature. For the yellow necklace I just used twelve largish faceted yellow beads, but for this necklace I wanted a graduated effect, so bought two different sizes of coral beads.

Step 1. Start by threading a crimp bead over a length of tiger tail.

Step 2. Thread the tiger tail through the last link of the chain.

Step 3. Thread the tiger tail back through the crimp bed…

Step 4. Draw the crimp bead tight up towards the chain, then crimp tight.

Step 5. Lay out your beads how you’d like to thread them. To get the graduated effect I obviously had the large beads in the middle, then equal quantities of the smaller beads on either side. I made the coral necklace double layer, so I laid out a few more beads for the lower string than the upper.

Step 6. Start threading!

Step 7. As you reach the second thread of beading wire feed that through the first few beads as well.

Step 8. When you reach the end of your row, repeat the order of crimp-chain-crimp, then feed the end of the tiger tail back though a few of the beads at this end, too.

Step 9. Pull the tiger tail tight until the row of beads come up flush against the chain, then crimp the crimping bead closed, and trim both ends of excess tiger tail away.

Step 10. Voila! At this point you should have pretty much the makings of a necklace.

Step 11. Decide how long you’d like the necklace to be…

Step 12. … and cut the chain to the right length.

Step 13. Then attach the clasp at the two ends, and you’re done! One DIY’d beaded necklace! If you want to do the “advanced” (not really!) double strand version, just repeat the steps, making the second necklace a few centimetres longer, then attach the clasps to both necklaces, so the two are fastened with the same clasp.

Happy crafting!