Chain & Thread Bracelet

I keep seeing lovely bracelets everywhere made with a chain and coloured threads. They are so pretty and summery (I even saw one in a magazine the other day for £235!) I figured it wouldn't be that hard to fashion a DIY version so when a old bracelet needed a make over I thought I'd have a go.

This cute little charm bracelet was a present from a lovely friend a few years ago.

I do love it but it was starting to get a bit worn in a few places.

See the little jump rings are no longer silver coloured and there are scratches on all the charms.

It was pretty easy just to remove the charms with pliers.

For the thread I used the pink cord from my pink bracelet experiments. I'd also bought some yellow since then for something else. (It was a Father's Day gift so I guess I'll share that in May next year!) 

They are the same make and price (£3.98 from the hardware shop B&Q) but slightly different size and texture. No matter - it turned out fine.

I store them like this, with elastic bands round them to stop them unravelling everywhere.

I experimented with a few different ways of threading & knotting. I knew I wanted both colours together - I think they look dead summery. I discovered the cord only just fitted through the chains so that limited things a bit. If you make one, what you can do will depend on the chain link size and the thickness of your threads.

• First cut a length of each cord a good 3 inches longer than your chain bracelet. My synthetic thread is very unravel-y so I melted the ends carefully (just in the flame of the gas hob), that worked WAY better than the nail varnish I'd used before.
• Tie a knot about 1/2 inch from one end.
• Hold the chain in one hand and lie the threads above it. I held the chain flat so every other link was facing me - these were the links I used - every other one.

Sadly it was impossible to hold the chain, thread the cord and take photos all at the same time, with just my 2 hands and no-on else was home when I was doing this. Instead I have drawn you little step by step diagrams.

• Poke the pink thread up through the first link that's facing you from back to front.

• Take the pink back up to the top of the chain.

• Now take the yellow thread over the pink and then poke it through the next chain link facing you (ie miss one link and thread through the next) again from back to front.

• Bring the yellow thread back up to the top.

• Take the pink again and repeat, so take it over the yellow thread and up through the 2nd link along.

By missing every other link you keep the whole thing straight, I found if I tried to weave in every link the whole thing started to twist. I like the way the threads sit on the top of the chain in a nice straight pattern.

• You just carry on to the end, going over the opposite thread then up through the next link facing you.

When you get to the end just check the whole bracelet is flat and smooth and none of the links are bunched up in any way. If they bunch up the bracelet will be shorter and won't fit you any more!

• When you are happy just tie the ends in another knot, trim off to about 1/2 inch and melt if necessary.

If the knots start to work undone you can just add a tiny dab of super glue to hold them. It depends what kind of thread you use. Mine is quite springy!

It's just what I was hoping for, pretty and summery.

I'll probably wear it with a whole stack of others, more like this:

I'm thinking any type of chain would work in principal, you might just need to weave it a little bit differently. It would work well with a few strands of embroidery thread too I reckon, lots of colours together would look good.

You might also be interested in:

3 Pink Bracelets

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Old bracelet to new statement necklace

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I'll be linking up at these great link parties,