Brightest Young Things

DIY: Ruffle Necklace

Do It With: straight pins, scissors, a sharpie, an 8.5 x 11 piece of paper, an old slip, some leather (or FAUX leather) scraps (I used some sleeves I'd recently cut off a jacket; leather vests are SO TIGHT), 5 small safety pins, a necklace chain (preferably one you've lost the pendant to), a sewing machine, and a spool of thread that matches the color of your (p)leather.

Do It Why? Well, honestly the inspiration for this necklace can be found here; while I dig this ON PAPER its details are really kind of awful. Two pearls? The odd, perforated edge? We can improve upon this. Vastly.

Difficulty Level: If you're unfamiliar with pleating this might take about fifteen minutes longer than if you're a PLEATING PRO. You also need a modicum of sewing machine skills (or patience with needle and thread). Regardless, on a scale of 1-5 this is like a weak 3.

Cost: I literally had everything I needed for this lying around my house; however, I do realize that not everyone has a weird obsession with thrift store lingerie and cutting the sleeves off leather jackets. Depending on your closet situation, this will run between $0.00 and 5 bucks (assuming you do your shopping by way of Goodwill).

Tips: If your fabric and/or leather is on the thick side, go with a denim needle in your sewing machine. You'll thank yourself later. Also, a big part of the effect of the necklace is CRISP EDGES, so if your scissors are lacking go ahead and shell out $6 on some Singers at CVS. Best cheap scissors, ever.

DO IT, YOUNG THINGS:

1. Halve your piece of paper and draw a half-of-a-C-shape, about 1.5 inches thick, with the Sharpie. Cut it out all nice and clean and even.

2. Trace your C-shape twice onto your leather scraps and cut them out carefully.

3. Cut your slip into two loooong rectangles - the longer your strip of fabric is the better the RUFFLE EFFECT. Don't worry too much about width; as long as you've got about 6-8 inches you're fine. I used a half slip and just chopped mine into sections, then cut one side of each "loop" so my pieces were each about 36 inches.

4. Take one of your slip rectangles and go crazy with pinning and pleating. If you've never pleated before, this is an excellent time to learn because there's literally no way to eff this up. Just fold and fold and fold again and stick pins in haphazardly. The nuttier you do this the better the FINAL RUFFLE will be; just make sure that if you're using big-headed pins (see the picture for an example) that the straight edge is going UP - you don't want to run over the round plastic parts with the machine. Trust.

5. While that whole pinning thing is NOT an exact science, you DO need to make sure that your finished product matches up (for the most part) with your cut-out leather C. If it's too big or too small, re-fold and re-pin until it fits. Repeat steps 4 and 5 with your other rectangle of slip-material.

6. Pin each of your pleated and pinned rectangles into the underside of one of your cut-out leather C's, leaving about 1/4 inch of leather C-showing on the top of the backside (in other words, you don't want to see slip-material poking out of the top on the front side). Remember, you want the NICE side of your leather (or fake leather) to show, so pin the slip-material UNDERNEATH the good side.

7. Bust out your sewing machine and run each of your C + slip-material combo through - one long stitch running the length of the bottom of your sideways C will do it. It pays to go slowly on this; going too fast is an easy way to break your needle on a pin (on that note, feel free to pull out any pins that are directly interfering with your machine needle, but it makes for a better pleat if you can leave them in while running your fabric through the machine...). Once you've got your stitch in and the pleats are secure, go ahead and pull out the rest of the pins.

8. If you're anything like me you probably screwed up at least one of your leather C's with a wonky stitch-line. Choose the better looking of your leather C's - that's now the FRONT of your necklace. Back it with the other leather C (both leather C's facing outwards; inside touching inside, of course), and pin them together. Run your little sandwich through the machine (with the GOOD side up, duh), being careful to maintain even spacing between your stitch and the edge of the leather.

9. Look at your necklace from the front and trim any edges of your leather that went rogue while you were sewing. You want it to look nice and clean. Then go find a measuring tape (I know, I'm sorry. I didn't know you needed one at the beginning) and measure 2 inches out from the bottom edge of your leather C into the slip-material. Mark the 2 inch-point using pins and cut both layers accordingly.

10. Now measure 1 inch out from the bottom edge of your leather C and mark only the UPPER layer of the slip material with straight pins. Chop chop chop.

11. Flip your SANDWICH so you're looking at the back, and insert your safety pins AS SHOWN. Just make sure they're not too close to the upper edge of the leather; you don't want to see them poking out over the top.

12. Weave your necklace chain through the pins and you're SO FINISHED. Now go, wear it out in the world and inspire seething, seething girl envy.