The Bride's Necklace

This is the necklace I made for my daughter to wear for her wedding.  She likes her clothing and jewelry to be simple and not overly embellished.  Early on in the planning process for the wedding we both adopted the mantra "Simple but elegant".  I think we achieved that with every thing that we did for the day.  This necklace was what she wanted me to make for her.  It's not original, but she really liked the clean lines of it.  We decided to add the branch link to the side because her flowers were garden flowers, peonies, roses, muscari, herbs, lamb's ears, things she could have gone and picked in the garden.  So, we thought the branch recalled that idea.  The beads are moonstones.  She loves moonstones and has one in her engagement ring.  The effect was simple but elegant.  I also made a pair of earrings to match with the extra moonstones.  I used silver headpins that had little hearts for the head.  The set looked like this...

As I was making the necklace and earrings I realized I wanted to find, or make, a special box for her to keep them in.  I happened to be in our local Paper Source store and found the perfect silk covered box in a sale bin!!  Much that happened in the planning of this special day was serendipitious, finding this box was just one thing that seemed perfect!  Her colors were sage green and a soft French blue, so the blue fabric was perfect.  The box was plain, but since I'm not like the bride, and I like embellishment, I decided to add some ribbon embroidery to the top.  Time became a big issue because I was determined that I wasn't going to working on any projects the week of the wedding.  Family was arriving and there were things that couldn't be done until that week.  So, I gave up on the idea of ribbon embroidery.  I realized I had a corsage of ivory and white ribbon flowers that I had made several years ago and never used.  I have a board of ribbon flowers hanging in my studio and it seemed as though the corsage had been hanging there waiting for this project.  Serendipity again? I don't know,maybe!  When I took the flowers off the board I found that I hadn't finished it.  Everything was pinned together.  So, I sewed it all together and used fabric glue to attach it to the box lid.  I think it looks wonderful!

Not too froufrou, but embellished.  I have to say that she was very pleased!  And, you may have noticed that there was a tag in the box.  I made tags instead of cards for her shower gifts, and so I decided to make a small tag to enclose in the jewelry box.  It fits nicely and has a little note on the back from Mom for remembrance. 

I loved making this for my daughter.  She loves the necklace and the box, and it can become an heirloom for her to keep and wear whenever she wants to remember her special day.

Thanks for stopping by and sharing some of the preparations for the wedding.  I didn't overdo it, but I enjoyed all I did, and it lent a personal touch to what was really a very personal and wonderful wedding day. 

I hope you have a wonderful day.





It always needs beads!

I've always loved fibers and fabrics.  But, just as long as I've loved fibers and fabrics I've loved beads.  So, you'll usually find beads in almost everything I make. I love to embellish everything!!  I usually don't consider a jacket completed without a bead or two.  Same with an art quilt.  And, once I started knitting with beads, I started feeling the same way about fibers.  When I began felting knitted bowls and handbags it didn't take long to realize I had to get beads in there somehow.  With handbags, I often needlefelt over the machine washed handbag.  Then I'll sew beads onto the bag, embellishing the needlefelting.  But, then I discovered a pattern for knitted, felted bowls.  I love bowls and vessels made out of fiber or  beads.  Of course, I had to try the pattern! I knitted the bowl out of two colors of Manos kettle dyed yarn and then threw it in the washing machine.   This is the result.  Of course it's been embellished!

I decided I would applique ribbons, trims, beads and ribbon flowers in a vining pattern.  I made ribbon fuschias, and then stitched ribbon wrapped wire down with beads.  I added leaf trim, one of my favorite trims, and then stitched scattered beads to fill in.  I was especially pleased with the results.  I love the ribbon fuschias.  Here's a close up.

I was hooked on making these bowls for a while.  I made an all white/ivory  frosty one for a Christmas charity auction.  Unfortunately, I finished it with no time to spare, so there's no photo of it.  And, I made a royal purple which my daughter had to have for her college dorm room.  She took it back to school before I had a chance to jazz it up!  But, she likes it plain.  I don't know what's wrong with her!!!  Then I had two skeins of yarn left over from a sweater I made so I made a bowl to keep knitting tools in.  I thought it would be fun to sew buttons on it rather than ribbons and flowers.  So, I chose shell buttons in different sizes and colors and stitched them down with beads.  You knew I'd get the beads in there somehow!

The yarn had slubs of color in it which gave the felted bowl an interesting play of color.  I used those colors in chosing the buttons and stitched them down with green and turquoise beads. To fill in between some of the buttons I added some shaped beads.  I also decided to line this bowl.  I could see some of the stitching inside the bowl, so I decided I would cover it with a coordinating batik fabric from the stash.  You can see a little of the fabric in this closeup.

I like the look of the lining.  I cut a circle of fabric large enough to fit the interior of the bowl and then pleated it as I hand stitched it to the top of the bowl.  It's a great place to keep tape measures, point protectors, scissors and such on my table. 

I made these bowls a couple of years ago and I've been wanting to experiment with other yarns and styles.  So, stay tuned and we'll see if I get back to felting bowls.  I have some fun ideas for embellishing them and when I start to get new ideas I usually can't resist trying them out. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Hope you have a great day.