My First DIY: Pearl Rope Necklace

I have been on the hunt for DIY projects. Here's the first I actually completed!

While I was in San Francisco I saw this necklace at Banana Republic. It was marked $69.50. I stared at it and thought, "I can totally make that". So, I took a pic with my camera phone (below) to remember how it looked.

I was hoping I could link to the actual piece on the Banana Republic website, but sadly I can't find it.

Jewelry making isn't really my forte, because I don't know how to work with metal, but this necklace only requires braiding. I probably made 349,034,850,948 friendship bracelets between elementary and high school so I've got some mad braiding skills. ;)


Here is the wrinkled dollar version!


Here's a quick summary of how I made it.

I started with some leftover yarn (I always have extras from crochet projects). Make three separate braids. In order to create the tiered look the braids should vary in size, the bottom being the longest and the top the shortest. Then, use a basic knot to join them at each end.



For the next part you will need eye pins, beads and needle nose pliers. The beads should thread top to bottom, not side to side.


I bought the eye pins at Michaels. They were $2.99, but I used a 40% off coupon and got them for $1.79. There are 150 in the pack so I have plenty leftover.

The beads are from Michaels too. They were $2.99 (on sale 50% off) for a strand of 30. I bought two strands.

Ok, all you have to do is thread the eye pin through the bead, stick the pin through a braid loop and then use the pliers to bend the pin so it hooks around the braid. I hooked a bead to every other braid loop.


Is this making sense? I have to take more photos next time.

I eyeballed the number of beads for each braid. The top should have the least and the bottom the most.

I used some ribbon I had laying around to create the closure. I basically just hot glued the ribbon to the knots. Ribbon closures are awesome, because you can adjust the length so easily, which makes the necklace more versatile.


What do you guys think? I'm pretty pumped. If you decide to make one, let me know! I would love to see some photos.