Jewellery

I once got a necklace made of stones from my grandma. I only got to use it once before it broke. And of course it broke, it was held together with cotton thread! I decided to replace it with silver thread.

I went to a specialized store and bought 0.8 mm wide 925 silver thread, and round pointed pliers. Different pliers are used for cutting and squeezing the thread. You can also find these things in online stores. So here's how it's done:

To make a loop, squeeze the thread between the ends of the round pliers,

and turn. The size is up to you, and depends on where you position the thread. 

This is the shape you would be looking for. The very first loop is closed all the way of course.

Next place the half finished loop to the previous closed loop.

Squeeze to close the loop.

Wire the silver thread through the stone (or bead or what ever it is you are using) all the way to the loop you just made, and bend the thread slightly.

Use the round pliers to make a new loop and cut.

 Leave enough length to close the end of the loop inside the hole of the stone/bead, so that it's nice and tight. Use the round pliers to close the loop and to shape it into its final form. Finally, add fasteners, and your stone/silver chain necklace is finished.

I bought 2 m of silver thread, and after making a necklace and a bracelet there's still some 0,5 m left. The stones had drilled holes in them that sometimes would be too tight for the thread. Luckily there were enough stones with wide enough holes. There are thinner threads available, but I just took a risk this time and went with a thicker one. The stones (and also glass beads) are quite heavy, so maybe it's all for the good. By the way, I don't know what stones these are, so if anyone knows, please inform me!

Inspiration takes over

I had an ill-fitting pin-striped skirt, black pants that were too small, and a hippie-style lacy shirt- thing that made me sweat like a pig. What to do with them? Well, I decided to join them together and shape a lolita- style skirt on a dummy.

As you can see, the dummy has no stand, it sits on a stool. It's was made while I was studying design, and I still haven't found anything for a stand. Works fine this way, though. ( By the way, making of the dummy included four hours of standing still, while my friend glued newspaper on my body.) So first I just modeled the pieces in different ways, and when I was satisfied, I cut and sewed. I used zigzag stich since I was going to cover every line with lace.

Like this. I added some flowers made of the lacy fabric. While forming this kind of skirt, you should bear in mind the general shape and what you want. I went for an asymmetric look, but held on to the downwards widening shape, so that it wouldn't be too puffy on the other side, and hanging too close on the other.  If it helps, you can always draw the general shape on paper as a pattern, especially if you want a symmetrical hemline. 

I added lining to give the skirt more shape and quality. There's a waist piece from the black fabric, then a re-used piece of the lining of the pin-striped skirt. Below that is organza from a curtain. I could have used tulle, but I don't want to ruin my tights, so I gave organza a try. It's actually quite good for this purpose.

This is the finished skirt. There's a zipper on the left side hidden in the seam. The waist line is low, but because this was made to my measurements, it fits and it's comfortable too.

The finished skirt from behind. Those little ribbons are actually snipped from old shirts. You know, those ribbons you use to hang your shirts. it hangs a little lower from behind but I don't mind.

Overall, I'm quite satisfied with the results. I made this skirt a year ago, and have been using it ever since.