Old Fabric, New Necklace

I was browsing the Making Zen workshops on the weekend, when Alison Dawson’s textile necklace caught my eye.

Making Zen is starting this Monday 28th September, running until Friday 2nd October. Have you registered yet? This is a FREE online event for hand stitchers and crafters, with new workshops each day. A VIP pass will give you instant and lifetime access to all the sessions.

Alison Dawson is a Canadian textile jewelry artist. Her workshop presentation is very friendly and soothing. I’m rather partial to an interesting necklace, and we had all the things to make one at home.

We have a decades-old bag stuffed full of printed scrap fabric for that “maybe one day” patchwork quilt. It’s full of nostalgia, containing scraps from things made many years ago.

I was so spoiled for choice. I pulled out a blue and white colourway.

Then a red and white one.

Hmmm…a red one would be nice to wear at Christmas, perhaps with a white linen shirt? It’s never too early to start thinking about one’s Christmas Day outfit.

The necklace also required beads, and my teen generously gave me free run of her tremendous bead collection.

Things went along very well. All pieces cut and ready to sew.

I sewed the tubes for the fabric “beads”, and pressed the seams open using a chopstick, feeling very clever.

Hang on, my beads looked a bit long and thin, not like the ones in the workshop…

A quick check of the video revealed I’d sewn them around the wrong way. Gah! I suddenly saw unpicking in my future.

But it didn’t take long, and things were back on track.

A pleasant time was spent lying on my bed doing the handsewing part.

It came out so well! I really like it. It’s very lightweight to wear, and I think it could go with lots of things. I tried it with a few different coloured tops. The best two were a classic white shirt and the blue chambray Sandie shirt.

I also tried it with this striped pleated top and the red asymmetrical top from Zero Waste Sewing.

The Verdict: excellent, and fun to make.

Alison’s necklace workshop is on Wed 30th September. Meanwhile, take a look at her lovely website.