Hands up! who else has still got some plastic drinking straws hidden away at the back of a drawer or cupboard?
I know I am not the only one as I have had conversations over the last few years with other people who are also struggling to work out what to do with theirs.
I still have about thirty stuck in a bag left over from when my children were young enough to enjoy birthday parties, so at least twenty years ago now!
I cant just throw them away as that won't help our environment in the slightest.
So after a bit of thought I came up with these necklace ideas. You are welcome to give them a go, you don't need to have any jewellery making equipment to make them, and you don't even need to be good at needlework, trust me I cannot sew!
I would be interested to know what you think about them.
You need
drinking straw(s)
material scraps
needle
thread
scissors
cord/ribbon
How to make your necklace
Cut approximately 40cm of thread - Thread your needle, tie a knot close to the eye and trim excess thread leaving around 1 cm - this is to prevent the excess blocking the straw.
2. Drop the needle through the straw, if it resists, give the straw a gentle tap until the needle appears at the other end.
3. Take the needle back to the top of the straw and pass the needle back down the straw a second time, making sure not to lose the end of the thread.
4. Bend the straw to form an angular shape , bring the ends of the straw together and pull the thread tight.
5. Tie a knot to fasten
6. Carefully put the needle into the straw and through it to the fabric strip to help keep it in place.
I chose to use a piece of material cut from a pair of trousers that needed shortening, (I really don't like to waste anything!)
7. Wrap the material around the straw, keep wrapping until you are happy that the whole straw is covered.
8. Sew wrapped fabric strip in place, keep passing needle back through the material as often as you like or until you run out of thread. secure thread and tidy up your wrapped link.
9. If you want a single link as a drop pendant attach some cord or ribbon to your wrapped shape and you have your pendant.
10 . You may chose to make a necklace with several straw links instead, If you wish make another link in the same way as described earlier, make sure you link into the previous straw shape.
When you have made as many links as you want, attach to cord or ribbon or make a continual chain of linked fabric wrapped straws - the choice is yours
I would love to know if you tried this and how it turned out.