Zephyr Art TN: How To- Making Your Own Fabric Earrings

Today I thought I would do a little 'How-to' on fabric earrings. I made the ones above today to list on Etsy and photographed the process as I went. 

First I cut out 4 interesting shapes from some hand dyed cotton I had left over from another project. (You can use almost any type fabric, if it is too light just layer a couple or more pieces together.) I chose to cut vaguely triangular shapes, two smaller ones for the top layer and two larger pieces for the bottom. To get a good structure that would not be too flimsy, I sewed the smaller pieces on top of the larger ones to make the two basic earring shapes with two layers. (Layers are almost always visually interesting because they create dimension and volume.) I then hand sewed the top of the two earring shapes closed, kind of folding them over and sewing them down. (A small side note on hand sewing needles: I accidentally bought some expensive hand sewing needles recently- they were 50% off, I thought that meant cheap- and it was one of the best craft oriented things I have ever done. I used to hate hand sewing but now I looove it. Seriously, the only thing that changed is I am not using crappy needles anymore!) 

I sewed (slightly mismatched) blue buttons at the top. I usually try for a bit of asymmetry in our earrings, this time I just slightly varied the button colors for difference.  If you like a more perfect union of earrings, you can make them match. 

After adding the buttons, I hand sewed on a metal jump ring to be able to attach the earring itself. I purchased my earring findings at Hobby Lobby on one of their half off sales. I always keep a look out for deals on these kind of supplies because they can be a bit expensive. (I sound like a real cheapo, don't I? I prefer the term 'thrifty'.) But, once you buy a package of the earrings and jump rings you can make oodles of creative earrings from so many different materials!

After affixing the jump ring I attached the earring then repeated the process for the other one. 

Ta-da. The finished earrings, really pretty easy to make and definitely fun to do. As always, if I didn't explain any of the parts clearly enough, email me!