Here’s the necklace to go with the Cotton Lover’s Bridal Purse. Motifs are crocheted separately and then sewn onto the necklace strap. So some pretty good sewing skills are necessary to successfully complete this project! How you arrange and sew the motifs onto the strap is crucial to how the finished necklace will look and sit around the neck.
Your choice of pearl beads and clasp is also very important. Genuine freshwater pearls will be gorgeous, or perhaps Swarovski crystals. Choose a clasp that has weight to keep the necklace in place.
SKILL LEVEL
Intermediate
Warning: Sewing Skills Needed!
FINISHED MEASUREMENTS
Necklace length may be adjusted by adjusting number of rows. The finished item shown measures approximately 14 inches without the clasp
Large flowers measure 1.75 inches in diameter.
Smaller flowers measure 0.6 inches in diameter.
YARN
Cannon Mercerized 4-Ply Cotton Thread size 8
OR any crochet cotton thread size 10, size 8 or light fingering (4-ply)
Choose White or Natural
CROCHET HOOK
Aluminum Crochet Hook size 3/0 (2.20mm)
OR size required for gauge
GAUGE
25 sc = 4 inches
TERMINOLOGY
Pattern is written using US crochet terminology.
NOTIONS:
Sewing needle and thread of matching color
3 pcs Pearl Beads – 10mm
6 pcs Pearl Beads 0 5mm
Gold clasp with pearl
DESIGN NOTES:
The necklace strap and flower motifs are all crocheted separately. The flower motifs are then sewn onto the strap.
INSTRUCTIONS
NECKLACE
MOTIF #1 The Flower with Curly Petals (Make 3)
Ch 4, sl st in 1st ch to make ring.
Rnd 1: Ch 1, 12 sc in ring, sl st in 1st sc to join.
Rnd 2: Ch 1, sc in 1st sc, *ch 2, dc in next sc, ch 1, 6 sc around stem of dc, sc in next sc, rep fr * to make 6 petals ending the last rep with sl st in 1st sc to join.
Rnd 3: Ch 1, working from behind the petals, make a sc in ring through the space in the centre of the first petal, *ch 3, tr in same sp, ch 3, around same stem make (4 dc, 2 hdc, 2 sc), sc in space in centre of next petal, rep fr * to make 6 petals ending with sl st in 1st sc to join. Fasten off with a long tail for sewing.
MOTIF #2 The Three-Petal Flower (Make 6)
Ch 3, sl st in 1st ch to make ring.
Rnd 1: *Ch 2, 3 dc in ring, ch 2, sl st in ring, rep fr * to make a total of 3 petals. Fasten off with a long tail for sewing.
NECKLACE STRAP
Ch 4.
Row 1: Sc in 2nd ch fr hook, sc in next ch, 3 sc in next ch, ch 1, turn.
Row 2: Sc in each of next 2 sc, 3 sc in next sc, ch 1, turn.
Rep row 2 to desired length, making 0.5 to 0.75 inch allowance for necklace clasp. Fasten off.
Necklace should sit just above the collarbone. This is approximately 14 to 15 inches. I think that this is the best size of necklace for this particular design. The flowers are large and have weight and may droop if the necklace is too long. Take your own measurements for the best fit.
Also, choose a good clasp with some weight. I used gold plated silver clasp with a pearl. This clasp matches the pearl-beaded flowers and has ample weight to keep the necklace in place and prevent it from turning about.
BLOCKING
Lightly starch the flowers and especially the strap to straighten and untwist the strap. Starching also stiffens the material and protects it from dirt.
ASSEMBLY
Arrange the flower motifs on the strap as shown in the photographs. This is just my proposed arrangement. You can try your own arrangement. In the necklace shown, I wanted a rather asymmetrical arrangement.
When you’re happy with the arrangement, sew the motifs onto the necklace strap. Sew the 10mm beads to the centre of large flowers and the 5mm beads to the centre of small flowers. Sew the clasp to the ends of the necklace.
Some notes about Sewing the Motifs:
The strap will curve around the neck which means that if you should position the motifs on the strap on a flat surface, they will need to be placed a bit closer to each other, overlapping a bit, to compensate for the increased distance between the motifs when the strap curves.
Don’t sew the motifs flat, particularly the large flowers. Let the petals pop up freely. If they are starched stiff, then they will hold their petals and not droop.
Arrange the smaller flowers in a non-linear way on the strap. This means you don’t need to sew the smaller flowers all at the centre but can sew some of them at the petals. I arranged the smaller flowers such that they gently curved up towards the right side and gently curved down towards the left side.
