I love bold jewelry and I also love making necklaces out of non-jewelry materials. I've used towels, kids lacing beads, pom-poms and more. Using these (big) materials rather than delicate beads or chains gives you a lot of bang for low effort.

The ropey necklaces above (except for the polka-dot one) were made from metallic trims such as rickrack (two pieces intertwined), ribbon, braid and cord. In our March issue in the Beauty & Style section, I show how to make these super easy and quick necklaces using the trims and just a dot of hot glue or an iron.

For the supplies, I visited some of my favorite NYC trimming shops. Luckily, they all have websites!

• M & J Trimming- huge selection of everything including metallic cording and trims of all types!
• Tinsel Trading- new and vintage ribbon, cord, buttons, flowers, leaves and all sorts of crafty treasures!
• Pacific Trimming- they have all the basics and an eclectic array of iron-on embroidery trim
• Daytona Braids and Trimming- amazing assortment of rickrack and more (including the embroidered iron-on silver leaves, below)!

This golden floral bib necklace was made an iron-on appliqué trim, originally meant for embellishing clothing.

For the bib-style necklaces I first cut up the appliqué so that I could arrange it in an asymmetrical curved design. Next I sandwiched cord between the appliqué and backing fabric and ironed with a dry hot iron. Using detail scissors, I trimmed out the heat-melded design. Trim the ends of the cord but leave it long enough so that you can get it over your head or use it to tie a bow as the closure.

More of the iron-on applique, also known as embroidery iron-on trim:

• dot embroidery iron-on trim (can you find it transformed into a necklace in the photo at the top of this post?)
• orange leaves embroidery iron-on trim
• floral embroidery iron-on trim (as seen in the golden floral bib necklace above)

I hope you'll try making these quick and easy necklaces!!

Posted by Jodi Levine on March 11, 2013 in Make It