Quick guide to a quick necklace

As a child I used to be fascinated by the cotton reels in haberdashery shops. I loved the way they usually covered entire walls and how they were divided in different shades of colour, one merging into the other. I found it fascinatingly beautiful.

A few days ago I found lying around the house one of those cheap cotton reel packets you usually buy in £1/€1 shops. I still have in my mind images from the most recent catwalk shows, events that can cause a bad fashion overdose, but can also inspire and generate extreme amounts of desire.
So itching for a new and original accessory but not having enough money in the bank, I decided to put the cotton reels to test and see what I could come up with.

I took a black velvet ribbon (medium-sized) and I slipped on it the cotton reels I found in the house. I experimented with different lengths, but I think that the best length is one that stops around the base of the neck, though an interesting Masai-necklace effect can be created by making three different necklaces in three different lengths and then wear them together.

The best thing about the necklace is that, once you get tired of it, you can always disassemble it and change the colour order or just restore the cotton reels to their original purpose.

For a quirkier effect you can try and fashion the same necklace out of multi-coloured silk thread reels as their shiny texture will create more striking effects.

Remember though that such threads can be slightly more expensive than the cheaper and more easily available cotton threads. As usual try eBay for cheap/vintage silk thread reels, but always remember to buy round hole reels so that you can easily slip them onto a ribbon of your choice (better a velvety one as shiny satin ribbons tend to unfasten very easily).