About 8 years ago I came across these lovely modular bracelets in a small jewelery store in Montreal. That was the beginning of my obsession with European Beads. Now there everywhere. These days you can buy or make all sorts of bracelets in metal, leather, string and fabric to show off your beautiful beads. The pattern below is for a triple wrapped silk fabric bracelet.
As modeled by Vera, a rubber hand I found in the office. Doesn’t she look pretty?
Materials
- Lightweight silk fabric
- Co-ordinating Thread
- Sewing Machine or sewing needle
- A print out of this pattern here
- sticky tape
Instructions
Cut out the pattern from the sheet you printed.
Measure the diameter of your wrist.
Cut out a rectangle of paper 4 1/2 cm wide and (3 times the diameter of your wrist) long. I multiply by 3 since I am assuming you want to be able to wrap the bracelet 3 times.
Using a little sticky tape attach the printed paper pattern pieces to the sides of the rectangle you have just cut.
Lay the pattern piece on the bias of the fabric and pin in place.
Cut the fabric to the shape of the pattern piece. Working with fabric on the bias involves rotating the fabric 45 degrees, placing the piece and cutting where the fabric has the most stretch. Click here for a YouTube video explaining the concept.
Trim the edges as neatly as possible with your scissors. Sew around the edge using a seam stitch. This can be done using your sewing machine or by hand. The bracelet in the photos was sewn on a sewing machine using a medium sized zig-zag stitch.
That’s it!! Add a couple of beads and wrap around your wrist. Personally I think it works best with a couple of knots holding the beads in place as shown below.
