Summer Gardenias Necklace

This little beauty was inspired by this gorgeous Anthropologie necklace. I made one for my sister's birthday back in December, just in time for her to take it to St. Thomas. (Ok, I didn't get it to her on time, it ended up being a late b-day gift!)

When I saw this one in Anthropologie for $228 originally, I got inspired to make my own. I ran across Maegan's version (of ...Love Maegan fame... my Fav site!) a couple of months ago, and the idea's been sitting on my brain since. So, here's how I did it...!

First, get your supplies together.

I used:

1. Flowers of your choice. I used two types of gardenias

2. Needle and thread

3. Fabric for the base of the necklace

4. Rope or ribbon for the necklace, and a rope or ribbon to tie the necklace together.

Next, cut all of the flowers from their stalks, and cut their stems as close to the base of the flower as possible.

Then, stitch the flowers together at their bases to make sure the petals don't fall off.

For good measure, take the next few seconds to arrange the flowers the way you want to wear them on the necklace. Move the arrangement to the side except the one you want to start with, and hold it in place on the fabric as you stitch it on. Repeat for each flower, placing it and stitching it, until you finish.

Next, cut excess fabric off, shaping the piece. Then, stitch around the edges of the fabric, creating a loop at both ends.

Loop the rope back on itself to hold it in place just above the necklace. Stitch in place, and wrap thread around stitches to hide them. Cut the rope at the top of the necklace, where it lays on the neck, and make the same same loops, stitch in place and wrap the thread around the stitches.

Run your ribbon through the loops at the back of the necklace, and tie.

Enjoy!