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Making a floral necklace - Ruthann's Garden


Using the cute little beaded flowers that I showed you a couple weeks ago, plus a few more styles, I fashioned a floral necklace that I named for my mother: RuthAnn's Garden. RuthAnn has an absolutely magic touch with flowers of all types, and her garden is always a riot of colors from the earliest spring to the lastest fall.

The focal flower on the top of the piece is styled after a hibiscus, modified slightly (but only slightly!) from the excellent instructions given by Kerrie Slade in the April 2009 issue of Bead&Button Magazine.

For my general instructions on bead embroidery, please check Bead Embroidery Techniques.



1. Cut a piece of ultrasuede a bit bigger than you want your finished piece to be. Stitch free-form right angle weave for the background, stitching each loop to the background in several spots as you go.



2. Using a paper tracing of the foundation, arrange your beaded flowers and snap a picture of them.



3. Stitch down the flowers, using the long tails to tack them in place securely, knotting them on the back. Stitch a few extra tacks for the largest flower to prevent it from drooping. Add smaller flowers to fill in the large holes.



4. Stitch and add spiral square stitch tendrils, again using the tails to tack them in place.



5. Add glass leaves by stitching a short stack of seed beads, adding a leaf and a stop bead, and stitching back down through the stack. Anchor each stack individually and securely so that they won't end up stretching out or drooping later.

6. Stitch two figure-8 loops to the underside of the top edge of the necklace, with one-third to one-half the loop sticking out beyond the edge.

7. Cut a piece of plastic or interfacing slightly smaller than your foundation. Lightly glue it in place, and lightly glue another piece of ultrasuede to the back. Cut the fabric pieces even and stitch around the outside to cover the raw edges. Add a row of picot stitch to finish it off.



7. String and wire straps together as you chose. I used French wire, (aka bullion wire) to cover the exposed SoftFlex beading wire. The central part of each strap is wired with 20 gauge gold wire.


8. Add a length of chain to each end in order to make your necklace adjustable. Add an S-hook to one end and a dangling bead cluster to the other.

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Copyright 2009 Cyndi Lavin. Not to be reprinted, resold, or redistributed for profit. May be printed out for personal use or distributed electronically provided that entire file, including this notice, remains intact.

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Comments

Firefox said…
What a rich imagination! :-)
Cyndi L said…
Thank you! You should see how beautiful my mother's garden is :-)
Silver Surfer said…
That is a very beautiful necklace. Your imagination is so fertile.

I tried the 'thread and bead' flowers and loved the feel while making them..

I like your blog as I just know you will be making such lovely things. I dont know if my comment went thro'
Cyndi L said…
Those little flowers are so addictive to make, aren't they? Thank you so much for your visits :-)
Unknown said…
Beautiful! I'm going to cross post on the Soft Flex blog for tomorrow. :)
Cyndi L said…
Thanks for the thumbs up, Sara!
Unknown said…
It's a stunning piece!