At least I made an awesome craft today! The benefit of being home in Los Angeles is that I have a fantastic mother here who is willing to schlep me to Joann's to pick up anything I could possibly want and/or need. The order of the day today was dupioni silk.
Let me just say... this stuff is NOT cheap. It cost a whopping 20 dollars a yard! Which in my book is super expensive and totally ridiculous. Of course it is silk and it is fabulous, but that just seems like a rip off.
Thankfully, I only needed half of a yard for Martha's Braided Dupioni Silk Necklaces. Once I had procured a half a yard of silk and forked over the requisite 10 dollars, the project was as simple as ripping the fabric (gasp! I was ruining something so fancy and wonderful!), knotting three strips together at one end and braiding through the length of the fabric.
The first necklace, I braided very tightly and I didn't totally love the effect. For the others, I braided the strips more loosely and I think those are more successful. Martha's instructions suggest hand-sewing in more fabric when one reaches the end, in order to make necklaces that are 60 inches or so. I stuck with just a single length, and I think these still look really cool. Plus, this way I could make more of them.
Although the silk was extremely stringy and I have silk threads everywhere, I think the actual necklaces look good with some roughness to them. These were easy and are definitely cute and wearable!
Instructions (from Martha Stewart):
Tools and Materials
Dupioni silk
How-To
Rip dupioni silk into 1-inch-wide strips; 1/2 yard makes 3 necklaces. Knot ends of 3 strips, and braid. When you get to the end, hand-stitch additional fabric strips onto the first 3 (stagger the new additions if possible to disguise the seams). Continue braiding to the desired length (our necklaces are as long as 60 inches), and knot. Knot ends together to make a loop.
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