Silk Razzmatazz Necklace

I put this necklace together as a gift for an envelope swap I participated in recently, I thought rather than just sending along buttons with the rest of the goodies, I'd make them more special by turning them into an artsy necklace.

The yarn I used for this project is Berroco Seduce, it's a rayon/linen/silk blend and it worked beautifully for this application. Both knitting and crochet are used in construction, though I offer an alternative for non-crocheters. I knitted an I-Cord (size 4 dp) knitted to the desired length, I found just the right button to use as a closure and then I made a loop on the other end to button it into. I placed stitch markers in the I-Cord where I wanted to begin the embellishment and end it...it's easy to loose track when it's in your hands and you're working away! I determined this by putting the necklace on to better see where the necklace would hang and the best area to place the embellishment. Then with a crochet hook (size G) I did a slip stitch to attach the chain where I wanted to begin my swag of buttons. When I wanted to add a button, I lengthened my working loop and used a needle threader or a fine crochet hook to pull it through the button hole, slipped the working loop back on the crochet hook and chained a stitch or two. As you can see by the close up picture above, sometimes I added another button right away, even double stacking them, sometimes I chained a few stitches in between. When I was ready to move to the next swag, I slip stitched it into the I-Cord. (If you don’t crochet, you could easily just attach the buttons by stringing them on your yarn, knotting in between clusters and slipping a little knot into the I-Cord to secure the swag.) When you're done, just slip stitch and work in your ends, just like knitting.

If I were making this for myself, all those chain stitches would offer good opportunity for some more crochet embellishments.

This is a quick fun project, plus it's also great opportunity to dig through that button box (FUN!) and take all those terrific old buttons you've been collecting and turn them into wearable art. I bet Grandma would love to see her buttons on display!



Have a great week! Blessings Friends!
Melissa