Traditionally used for outerwear in Scotland, England, Ireland, and Wales, tweed fabric has been "borrowed" by fashion designers and used to make couture garments for decades. The French couture jacket and skirt, popularized as a suit by Coco Chanel, is probably the most famous designer style. Modern tweeds are often made up of a complex variety of colors, fibers, and yarns.
My favorite tweeds come from Linton Tweeds, a UK manufacturer that has supplied tweeds to the fashion industry for decades, so I used a Linton tweed to make two fringed tweed chokers. By fringing the warp in one case and the weft in the other, I made two chokers that look entirely different, even though they're from the same tweed fabric. The image below shows the variety of yarns with their colors, including metallics, and their different sizes, that I pulled for the fringes.
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To make a tweed choker, you'll need the following materials and supplies:
- Two 16mm metal ribbon crimp ends
- Two 6mm oval jump rings
- One 10mm x 6mm hook
- One chain extender
- Two jewelry pliers (I used two bent-nose jewelry pliers)
- Tweed fabric
- Satin ribbon (optional*)
- Thread to match satin ribbon (optional*)
- Needle (optional*)
- Craft glue
- Scissors
- Tape measure
- Straight pins
*You need the satin ribbon, thread, and needle only if you want to line the choker. I did line the chokers I made, as I think it's a nice touch, and it also helps to stabilize the tweed.
However, if you'd like your choker to be reversible, simply omit the lining, and you can wear it with either side facing out. Although tweed has a "right" side and a "wrong" side, the "wrong" side can often look just as beautiful as the "right" side.
In this case, I recommend securing the ends of the tweed by gluing a tiny piece of felt into the ribbon crimps before closing them. Otherwise, the crimps may pull away from the choker since tweed fabric tends to fray quite a bit.
The first step in making the fringed tweed choker is to determine the size you'd like before cutting the fabric. Use a tape measure to find your neck circumference. If you want a close fit, subtract one-quarter inch from the measurement to allow for the hook closure, which adds length to the finished choker, so the length would equal neck circumference minus one-quarter inch.
The width can vary depending on how much fringe you like.
The first choker in the example below is for someone with a small neck size, and it measures 11.75 inches long by 1.5 inches wide. The bottom choker in the example below is for someone with a medium neck size, and it measures 13 inches long by 2 inches wide.
Before cutting the fabric and fringing it, place a couple of pins (the width of the ribbon crimp) onto the area where the crimp will go on the finished choker so that you can place it on the pattern the way you like and know where to stop fringing (you will be following the thread next to the pin at this step.)
When you cut out your choker shape, make sure to follow a thread exactly as you cut. Tweed can become distorted very easily, so use scissors, rather than a rotary cutter, and make a precise cut all along the side of a thread, as shown below.
When the choker is cut to size, it's time to start fringing. Using a straight pin, push the thread nearest the long edge away from the fabric, and then pull it all the way out.
You may not need the pin for every thread. Typically, the threads and yarns will vary in diameter so that some of them will be quite thin and others thick.
Proceed to the lining (if you're making a reversible choker, you'll skip the lining). On the wrong side of the choker, line up your satin ribbon in the center and pin it in place.
When you stitch the ends, stabilize them with an overcast stitch. Go through the loop of the overcast stitch to form a knot with each stitch. We're doing this not only to stitch the ribbon to the choker but also to have a stable area for the crimp to attach firmly.
Once you've completed a stitching all the way around, turn the choker to the front.
Next, assemble the metal jewelry findings.
Slip the jump ring onto one of the crimp ends.
Slip the hook onto the same jump ring with the crimp end already in place.
Open the other jump ring and slip the other crimp end and the extender chain onto it. Then, close the jump ring.
Examine the crimp ends. In some cases, the crimps will have a sawtooth edge on both sides. Other crimps, such as the ones I used, have a straight edge on one side and a sawtooth edge on the other side. If this is the case, make sure that the straight edges of the crimps are facing up. Apply a thin coat of craft glue to the inside bottom of one crimp.
Fit the crimp over the center edge of the choker, and let it dry. Although this type of crimp doesn't need to be glued in place, I use the glue to position the crimp so that it doesn't move when I close it later.
Let the glue dry, and then press the crimp closed with jewelry pliers, making sure it's tightly closed. This usually requires pressing it along the edge more than once if you're using bent nose pliers.
Attach the other crimp on the other end in the same manner, and your choker is complete!
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