I’ve decided to take it upon myself to deem 2011 the “year of the bracelet” not the pie. Bracelets are less damaging on the hips than Granny’s good ol’ apple pie anyways. In case you’ve been living under a rock bracelets are every where; stacked, thin, chunky, colorful, they are e-v-e-r-y where! The other day I happen to be in a department store shopping for shoes and while zipping through the jewelry department some pretty aqua green and gold bangles caught my eye. As most “DIYourselvers” {has Mr. Merriam-Webster acknowledged that word yet?} do, I quickly analyzed the jewelry and instantly brainstormed how to make one of these bad boys myself.
Chunky bangle {I found mine at Michael’s}
2 different colored but complimentary embroidery threads {ya know the kind you used for your friendship bracelets!}
Gold 1mm elastic cord
Scissors
Glue Gun
To get started, you’ll want to cut a few strands of your bangle’s primary colored embroidery thread. The length of the thread is not important as long as you cut all of them the same length and the amount you need to cut will vary depending on how chunky your bracelet is. My thread measured out to about 24 inches each and it took me about 1 whole spool of thread {27 yards} to cover my whole bangle. Now take two pieces of thread and combine them by tying a knot at the end. Do this until you have paired off all of your thread. Take the knotted end of one these pairs and adhere it to the inside of your bangle with a little hot glue. Then start to firmly wrap the thread around the bangle. You’ll want the thread to lay tightly right next to each other. Continue until you have wrapped the whole bangle in thread; adhering with glue inside the bangle here and there {never glue on the outside of the bangle, this will ruin the appearance}.
Now that the bangle is completely covered, it is time to add your second color of thread. I took the end of my light teal spool of thread adhered it to the inside of the bangle with my glue gun and then started to wrap. I wrapped the thread twice at each spot along the bracelet. This part is less time consuming cause you’ll want to space your secondary color out about an inch each twist as you wrap along the bangle. I also wrapped this thread at a diagonal as I went along to give it more flair. Once you have gone all around the bracelet with your second color you can cut the thread and adhere the end to the inside of the bracelet with a tiny amount of hot glue.
Time for your final step! Now take your gold elastic cord and repeat the steps you just completed with your second color wrapping the gold tightly next to it. Remember just like in the previous step you’ll want to wrap twice, move over about an inch, and wrap twice again; continue until you have gone around the whole bracelet. Cut and adhere the end of the gold elastic to the inside of the bracelet once you have reached a full circle.
Isn’t she a beauty? She’s a spitting image of the bangles I saw at the department store and a lot less expensive.
There are a ton of ways you can customize your own jewelry. You can get fancy and crisscross the gold cord around the bracelet. Or why not fully wrap the bangle in multiple colors instead of just one?
I also like the idea of stacking your bangles with other bracelets like the gold ones pictured above. Either way, I think we can all agree bangles are an easy and fun way to dress up your summer look!
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