Button necklace - and a tutorial

I had lots of fun coming up with my latest Abakhan creative budget challenge. I had been seeing all these lovely chunky necklaces all over Pinterest and the blogosphere and I thought I would like to have a go at my own version. So before I go any further, I would just like to link to these two tutorials which inspired me to give it a go. They are:

* A tutorial by Silvia Chelazzi
* and a different take on the look, using sequins and beads, from the Mood Fabrics blog

I noticed that Abakhan sell a "lucky dip" bag of antique silver buttons. (They also have them in gold antique gold and bronze if you are interested). I decided to take a risk and order a bag without really knowing what I was going to get!

Luckily there were lots of gorgeous buttons to choose from, and more than enough to make a nice necklace. I also got:

1 x 30cmx30cm square black felt, a spool of black thread, a barrel clasp, 1m length of silver chain, 1m length of gunmetal sequins and some Trim-it glue. All this came to just a few pennies over £10.

 Making the necklace is so simple. It is really just a case of sewing buttons to the felt to create a pleasing arrangement and shape.

I started with some flat buttons, then built up the shape of the necklace with sequins and shank buttons to add depth and colour.

When you are done, cut away any visible felt and sew on some necklace chain. You could use ribbons, if you would rather not fiddle around with little jewellery findings. I don't want to overload you with photos on this page. But if you are interested in making your own, I snapped some pics and put together a photo tutorial over on Flickr

Button necklace tutorial, a set on Flickr.

In the interests of openness, I should tell you that Abakhan supplied the products for this post, but I was free to choose what I wanted, what to make and what to write.