So this is me in my new favourite bracelet! This is the first of several bracelet tutorials I'll be posting over the next week or two as part of the Pretty Up Your Wrists bracelet challenge. (#coughpleasejoinincough#)
I really love this cuff already! This was inspired by the chunky word cuffs that I showed in my original bracelet inspiration post:
I chose "MAKE" for obvious reasons... it's only one of my favourite things to do! And it kind of tells other people to do it to. Brilliant :)
Of course you can choose a different word if you like. Short and sweet is best as you can't fit much on and you'll want people to be able to read it without having to twist your arm off!
Here's how to make it:
1) Measure around your wrist and add an extra 3 inches. Cut two peices of wide ribbon or strong fabric to that size. (I used some old bag straps! Anything thick enough not to wrinkle but thin enough to embroider will work fine).
2) Cut a strip of paper to the size of the fabric and plan out your lettering. They should really only take up a third of the space, up to half at the most. When you're happy cut them out to use as stencils.
3) Place your letters in the centre of one strip as shown above and carefully draw round them with thin pen or pencil.
4) Thread a needle with your chosen colour, bring the needle through from the back of the first letter and sew a straight stitch like this:
Don't knot the thread! You'll end up with a bumpy bracelet. Instead leave an inch or so of thread at the back when you begin and secure it with the next few stitches like this:
(Do the same when you get to the end of the thread - use the needle to thread it back through the stitches you've already made).
5) When you've gone round the whole letter go back round filling in all the gaps. This bit requires a bit of patience! Carefully put the needle through the holes you've already made trying not to disturb the thread already there. You'll soon get the hang of it :)
6) Once you've done all the letters, tighten up any baggy stitches by gentle tugging the threads from the back with your needle.
7) Gather up your hook + loop velcro and cut to size. (One hooky bit and one loopy bit!) They need to be just a tad smaller than the width of your fabric strip like the one below:
8) Sew the softer (loop) piece in place - this should be to the right of your embroidered word, about half a cm from the edge.
9) Sew the other (hook) peice in place at the end of the other strip (!!! Check the placement first by pinning the two strips together and trying it on your wrist - it should fit loosely enough to fall onto your hand a little bit. Snip off the extra fabric if it's too long). :
10) Place your two strips back to back ready to sew. The velcro peices should be at opposite ends just like in this photo below:
11) Neatly sew a straight stitch all the way along the top and all the way along the bottom with your sewing machine, in whatever colour you want.
12) Then set your machine to zig-zag stitch and sew around your velcro peices over and over and over again. This bit's quite fun! The needle should drop slightly over the edges of the fabric when it goes to the right. Keep going until the edges are all encased in thread and you can't see much (if any) fabric underneath.
13) Cover the whole thing in some scrap fabric and press with a hot iron, avoiding the velcro. (I think it might melt! I didn't try).
It should now look like this:
14) Wrap it around your wrist and secure with the velcro. Hey presto: awesome new bracelet for your collection!
Hope you love it as much as I do! Feedback appreciated, please let me know if anything isn't clear.
xxx
