How to sew a vintage fabric petal necklace! A simple tutorial.

I am going to try to do a few more tutorials as some people have said it would be helpful. And so, here is a lovely project I made over Easter under my Mums guidance, a lovely, simple fabric necklace made from vintage fabrics, which can be seen in my Easter Weekend OOTD post. I do not take any credit for this awesome idea as it was all my clever mums idea (who has a lovely shop worth checking out: Marcia Lois on Etsy) 

I found her 'prototype' hanging in her workroom where me and BF sleep when we come to stay, and instantly took it off the mannequin to wear all day (I am not a very polite house guest, clearly...) So naturally, I enquired and learnt how to make one myself. Interested? Read on! I would love to see if anyone has a go at this project themselves, so pretty please show me a photo if you do!?

You will need:
Selection of small scraps of pretty vintage (or modern) fabrics
Iron on interfacing- soft or medium weight
Sewing machine
Pins (optional)
Scissors

Step one:
Draw a simple template on paper of a petal at your desired side. Cut it out carefully with your scissors.

Step two:

Cut out as many petals as you would like to use for your necklace (I used 16). You will need two in each fabric. Make sure you press and steam them so they are nice and flat!

Cut out your petals, two of each pattern

Press flat

Step three:

Press your little petals onto the lightweight iron on interfacing before cutting them all out again. You only need to apply this to HALF of your petals, one in each print, as you will match them together back to back and they do not need to be doubly interfaced. When you have interfaced one half of each pair, put your petals into pairs with their matching partners, back to back, pretty sides facing out both front and back.

Press Interfacing

Cut out petals

Match pairs

Place back to back, pretty sides facing out

Step four:

Using your sewing machine zigzag the edges to prevent fraying and secure front to back. Trim any sticky-outy interfacing

Zig-zag edges, then trim sticky-outy interfacing

Step five:

Now you are ready to sew your petals together using the sewing machine. Start with the point of one petal, and sew it through the middle, feeding straight onto the next petal and then the next, without stopping. The necklace is held together using the stitches, so make sure you use a good quality thread! To make it extra secure, I did two lines of stitches. This is hard to imagine but easy to do so see pics for details!

Line up the petals point to point carefully

Step 6: 

Join the first and last petals together to create a circle of petals, a necklace fit to adorn any vintage look!

This can be worn wrapped around twice for a shorter look, or hang loose hanging from the neck.