Hippie hippie chic - How to DIY a Creatures of the Wind fringed necklace

The Best Jewelry Trends from Spring 2015 (clipped to polyvore.com)

Next spring is set to take fashion deeper into the 70s from cut and colour palette pastiche to the earthy, bohemian whimsy of hippie paradigms, from fringing to tie-dye and folk-inspired patchwork. It definitely captures the kaleidoscopic haze of the 'me decade' with its characteristic nod to crafty detailing and ethereally chaotic mix-and-match styling, so of course it would have me beavering away at my desk with any trims, fabrics and quirky embellishments I could find - it'd be rude of me not to!

You will need

I used faux leather in red, yellow, two shades of grey (no more needed, thank you), teal, light blue, white and black. I'd recommend sniffing around eBay or your local market for inexpensive samples.

Not pictured

Needle and black thread

Sewing machine with a leather needle - alternatively, if you don't have one or aren't too confident in the company of such an item, you can just as easily use a stapler.

Difficulty

Quite easy

It is fiddly, it does take a bit of care, technique and love but categorically I can't find anything too challenging here.

Time

Now for the bad news. Against my earlier expectations, this one turned out to be a 6-hour project.

You wanna be a hippie?

Cut a piece of black leather that's 8x20cm. Fold it over by 1cm at the top and  either glue it in place with craft mount or sew it along the edge if you're using a machine to fix it in place.

Cut a piece of grey leather measuring 6x20cm and stick it in place across the bottom using craft mount.

Sew or staple the fringing to the back of the faux leather. Don't worry about staples or stitches showing, as we'll soon be covering these up with fringing.

Starting at the bottom cut some coloured faux leather pieces and attach them where you would like them to go. I'd recommend cutting them in a trapezium shape that flares outwards at the bottom.

Cut the pieces into fringing, making the strips as fine as you can - no more than 5mm in width. If you're cutting trapezium shapes like I suggested, cut them so that they flare diagonally outwards. Add more colours as you move up the grey base and try messing some pieces about by tousling them with your fingers.

Once you have made your fringing design, cut two equal lengths of ribbon that fit around your neck and can be easily tied in a bow. Attach them and hand stitch some black gems onto them.