Saturday, October 19, 2013

How to change any of my necklace patterns into an ornament cover


Decide on the size ornament that you are making a cover for. The ornament I am using for this lesson is about 2-1/4".  The base pattern I am using is the Lace Lanterns Necklace Pattern

These basic directions can be used for just about any necklace pattern. Once the middle part is complete, made from the necklace pattern, the rest is up to you what you want to add.  The beads used to attach the top ring to the middle section can be any variety of beads you would like to use. You can also decide to add fringe or leave the bottom edge plain. You could add drops of large crystals too. Use your imagination to create your ornament. You might need to experiment with different beads but since the middle is made from the necklace pattern the rest is easy.





 


Start by making the necklace as the pattern directs. You will want to use a necklace pattern that has Units of repeats. Of course do not add any closures. 
When you just about reach the size that you want, you then need to work on joining the 2 end pieces together. Whatever necklace pattern you are using, look at the front center of the finished piece to match the section you are missing. Join the 2 ends by working the missing section by following your pattern.

The sample I am using has 2 rows, so it is a little trickier. Attach the first row together first

After completing the second row, join that row. You need to have an even number of repeats because the repeat Unit in Row 2 is 2 sections. So I did the pattern with 23 loops and the 24th loop was the joining loop.





As you are working on the necklace pattern piece, place it around the ornament to check for size. This is also when you decide where on the ornament that you want the piece to lay.
The ring of the necklace pattern has 24 sets of 3 beads at the top. 




Also make a ring of beads to fit the top of the ornament. Go with working thread around through the ring of beads twice and that way the ring doesn’t come loose while you are working on it. The count doesn’t matter but should be an even number. On my sample thee top ring around the neck of the ornament has 36 beads. The number of beads around the neck of the ornament is determined by your ornament.

So now we need to figure out how many times to go down to the necklace pattern ring with beads from the neck ring beads.
I do not want to go into every 3 bead spaces of 24, so I divide the necklace pattern ring by half. So now we have 12 sets of 3 beads. Going up to 36 beads.

36 ÷ 12 = 3

So to get an even number of beads lines we are going to go through 1 bead in the top ring and then skip over 2 beads (=3 beads), all around and go into every other bead.
 
 

Now that the center piece of the ornament is complete you need to finish the rest of the ornament.
Put both the ring of beads and the necklace ring on the ornament to figure out how many beads are needed to join the top and the middle pieces together.
These also don’t have to be all seed beads, You can mix in crystals and different color seed beads too. Because of the location of my necklace pattern ring, my attach beads are 10 beads.





 


 If you want beaded fringe around the bottom of your ornament you can add that too.
At About.com they have some great examples of beaded fringes.
Basic Beaded Fringe Instructions


7 comments:

thebutterflyswing said...

Great tutorial! Thanks so much. Another fantastic use for you awesome patterns.

Leen said...

Wow what a great idea - I have many of your patterns and love them - going to try this for my ornaments this year.

Sandra D Halpenny said...

Please send me some pictures and I will add them to the blog. Thanks

The Beading Gem said...

What a wonderful tip!! I would love to share it on my blog so others can come visit here! Okay? www.beadinggem.com

Bifocalbabe said...

Thanks Sandra! You did a great job...maybe write a book....? At the very least-maybe you should be the one writing the eHow site! I just wasted an hour sifting through different pages with no pictures, confusing instructions and absolutely no diagrams.

Sandra D Halpenny said...

Thank you Bifocalbabe.

KipperCat said...

Thank you Sandra!

Post a Comment