Braided Denim Bracelet

Hey there! I just wanted to tell you that I've developed on a slight fixation to find uses/projects from the leftover denim material from my Old Jeans to New Shorts post. While the bows were really fun (from my DIY Denim Bow post), I have a lot of fabric left over and I fully intend to use all of it! This brings me to today's project. I will be constructing a Denim Bracelet! I really like my Button Bracelet which was very girly and cute... so this time I wanted to do something that had a little more "edge" to it. Keep reading to see what I did, and how it turned out!

Materials:
- Denim scraps (I have 4 strips shown but I sewed them so that I ended up with 2 long pieces of denim and one long chain)
- Chain
- Shears
- Needle and thread

 If don't have the same exact materials on hand, don't worry! You can substitute the chain for anything (another strip of denim, ribbon, yarn etc.). If anything, try something new to personalize it!



Steps:
1. First cut your fabric into strips. I used one chain and two pieces of denim but if you only have three denim pieces (or whatever you decided to use) that's totally fine too! Anchor these three pieces to braid (I just used the heel of my foot >.<), and start braiding! As you can see, my denim started fraying all over the place as I was braiding it, but don't worry! You can clean up stray ends (and your carpet) later.


2. When you're done, just tie the ends of your braid into a simple knot. On the anchored end, I didn't want to have two knots and have to tie them together into this huge, massive knot... I just used a needle and thread to sew together the pieces.


3. After that part is secure, I sewed that end of the bracelet to the knot, to make a circle just big enough to put your hand through. Make sure at some point in this step, you sew right through the knot to keep that from coming undone later when you're showing it off to your friends! ;)


 4. Great! Now you're pretty much done. I just went back and pulled out loose thread, trimmed the ends of my knot and snipped off the frays a little to keep the bracelet looking a little more polished. You can opt to tuck in the ends of your knot and leave the frays as they are. Leaving the frays will give you an even edgier look. I hope you like your new bracelet as much as I like mine!



So here it is! I think having the ends of the knot showing is pretty cute! What do you think?

What I learned:

- Cut your strips as evenly as possible. If you can do it with the "grain" or threads in your fabric, there will be less fraying later on.
- When you're braiding, check a few times to make sure the length matches the length needed to go around your wrist.
- Also while you're braiding, make sure you don't pull so tight that you don't get to see each piece, especially if one is smaller than the others (ex. my chain).


I decided to wear it my new bracelet out for the day and I actually wore it along side my Button Bracelet! How are you planning to wear yours?

This was an easy, fun and quick project that looks pretty good (if I can give myself a little pat on the back) when you're done! I hope you liked this post and that you try it out!

Alison <3