Fabric Jewelry from Milan Fashion Week

I was browsing through the Spring & Summer 2010 collections from the runway at Milan’s Fashion Week when I came across this photo.

The embroidery on the shirts was what caught my eye, but then I took a closer look at the necklace.  At first I though the model was wearing a necklace made from beads or shells:

And then I realized that those beads are actually covered with fabric!

I’ve actually talked about fabric covered beads before (you can see a how-to here, and some different ideas for fabric jewelry here).

It looks like the necklace from designer Maheen Khan was made using long, thin tubes of fabric, with beads inside them.  Each bead has been tied off with matching fabric.

If you wanted to try making your own necklace, I’d recommend trying it with some larger beads first – they’re going to be a lot simpler to work with.  You might also want to try sewing shorter tubes of fabric, instead of long lengths.

image: Zuma Press