DIY Wedding Dress Keepsake Necklace
Jen Causey-Kidder
Jen Causey-Kidder February 06, 2015

DIY | Wedding Dress Keepsake Necklace

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I’m a sentimental type girl and so I love a good keepsake project. I have boxes and boxes of special little trinkets I’ve saved throughout my life and I love looking back on them, which is the problem, they aren’t out for me to enjoy. My champagne cork keepsake frame was one of my favorite keepsake projects until I dreamed up this beauty that I’m sharing with you today. How to make your own Wedding Dress Keepsake Necklace using scraps from your actual wedding dress! Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to cut up your dress after your wedding, in fact there are many ways to obtain the tiny little scraps you need without harming your dress at all and I share those tips below. I’m obsessed with the idea of using pieces from your wedding dress, I mean it’s not everyday that you get to enjoy the sight of it, but of course you can use any piece/pieces of special fabric that you have. So I guess this idea offers you a lot of options!

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace
Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Special Fabrics

This necklace can be created using ANY special fabrics from your life… whether it’s from your wedding dress, your mother’s dress, a quilt your grandmother knitted for you, a shirt that your father always wore or your babies first blanket. You can easily preserve that special piece of your life and wear it around your neck with the techniques I share here.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

I would have loved to have been able to make a necklace like this with a piece from my grandmas dress, my moms dress, and my dress… but sadly we don’t have grandmas. I do have a dress of my grandma’s that’s actually falling apart so that would be perfect to use for this!

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

SUPPLIES:

  1. E6000 Glue
  2. 3 little pieces of special material
  3. 24″ chain necklace
  4. 2 – 3mm spacer beads
  5. 1 – open 4mm jump ring
  6. 1 – head pin
  7. Glass Ball Jar Charm
  8. Small pliers and wire cutter

*There are many different places that you can purchase these items but I’ve credited exactly where I purchased each one with shoppable links below. I choose to use “antique bronze”.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Gather your fabrics and start trimming them down to fit inside the glass bell. This glass bell is 1″ wide by 1.5″ tall.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

I trimmed mine to about 1″ x 3″, the lace ended up being a tad bit shorter because it was thicker than the other materials and only needed to be rolled a few times.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Carefully roll up each piece of material.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

So that your fabric doesn’t unravel inside your charm, add a tiny bit of tacky glue (or a really tiny bit of the E6000) to the inside flap and pin so it can dry a little. Let them dry for maybe 10 minutes and take the pin/clip off, you don’t want them to dry “pinched” you want them to look round and rolled. Here I’m using these super fun new Wonder Clips from Clover that I love, which are a sewing pin alternative.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Compare your rolled fabric piece to the size of the glass bell and trim if you need to so that they all fit inside nicely.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

How to make the Necklace

Start by adding a spacer bead to the headpin and threading it through the hole in the top of the glass bell. You need to add the spacer bead so that the headpin won’t slip through the hole. A headpin is a straight piece of wire with a little stopper of some type on the end. There are many different types and designs for sale, you can use a plain one like this or a more embellished version.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Next, thread another spacer bead onto the headpin on the outside of the glass bell.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Holding the top of your headpin with a pair of needle nose pliers, bend the headpin to a 90* angle, switch your plier hand and position, then wrap the wire around the plier head to create a round loop.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Then wrap the tail of the headpin down and around itself several times to complete the wire wrap. Trim the excess and squeeze any left over wire into the wire wrap design with your pliers. Don’t let all these pictures fool you, this is a super easy technique. If you need to visually see this wire wrap happen in person you can check out this YouTube video.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

The end result is a secure loop so you can hang this glass bell on a necklace.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Before you seal your glass bell forever, clean the inside first!!!

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Open and add a jump ring onto your new loop.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Find the middle of your necklace chain and add the glass bell onto it using that open jump ring. Then close it using a pair of pliers to force it back together. Adding the charm straight to the chain necklace will prevent the chain clasp from moving around on you.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Add your special little material rolls into the bell, paying attention to how they are laying because this is it…

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Add a small amount of E600 glue to the inside rim of the metal bell base and press onto the bottom of the bell. If you add too much glue to the base it might wick up into your fabric which doesn’t end up looking great. Let dry for 24 hours before wearing.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

That’s it! You now have a beautiful keepsake that is fashionable and a conversation piece.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

So what special material will you be using?

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

Ways to Get Wedding Dress Fabric

  • BEST: Ask your alterations expert if you can have a small remnant from your alterations, tell them you’d like to make a keepsake necklace with it and they’ll be sure to save some for you!
  • Trim some from the seams on the inside of your dress after your wedding. Some dresses will have a lot of seam allowance due to leaving room for alterations.
  • Some wedding dress companies like Celia Grace, will actually send dress scraps with your dress!
Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace
Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

This special little necklace would make a terrific gift for your grandmother or mother, how thrilled would they be to have a piece of your wedding dress!?

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

You can also use this necklace as a special way to remember someone on your wedding day. Simply use fabric from a loved one so that you can carry them with you all day.

Make your own wedding dress keepsake necklace

As with all our DIY tutorials, if you create one of our projects please send us a picture – We Love Seeing Your Creativity! If you use Instagram or Twitter please use the hashtag #SomethingTurquoiseDIY and it will show up on our Get Social page. Happy Crafting!

DIY Tutorial Credits

Photography: Something Turquoise Photography for SomethingTurquoise.com // DIY tutorial: Jen | Something Turquoise // wedding dress fabric: Celia Grace Wedding Dresses // Glass Bell Jar Pendant: Happy Supplies via Etsy // 24″ antique brass chain: Lilly D’s via Etsy // head pin, spacer beads, jump ring: Ruby Tuesday // Wonder Clips: courtesy of Clover // E6000: Amazon // pliers set: Craftsman // nail polish: OPI – Pretty Pink Perseveres


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