MissAmy |

Here is a new DIY, actually done by ME if you can believe that.  I was inspired by this little spot in Lucky magazine that highlighted zippers used as decoration on clothing & accessories.  The bracelet was what I looked at & thought, “I can do that.”  My version is a much simplified homage to the original (which you can purchase at KateCusack.com, price is $230 according to Lucky).

My finished version – I’m thinking it’s pretty darn cool.

And the how-to begins:

Supplies: snaps & snap tools, zippers, I was going to use a velvet ribbon but nixed that idea quickly. 
I started with a denim tube I had sewn from some fabric I had from when I hemmed my jeans. 
It’s just a tube turned inside out – I didn’t even finish the other end. 
I used denim & doubled the thickness so it would be a stiff enough base for the zippers. 
You could use any fabric but you may want to use stiff interfacing in between your layers.

 
 I attached the snaps to either end of the tube, creating a bracelet shape, which is the base that I attached the zippers to.
The only tricky thing with the snaps – find a very hard surface to use when pounding them on.
I found that the pergo floor in my office was not hard enough & ended up using my husbands metal vice.
Once I used that as my surface, they were no problem.

You’ll notice I used the finished end for the top, the unfinish end gets tucked under when I snap it closed.

 
Then I played with the zippers until I was sure what pattern/look I wanted.
I pinned the first one down so I could sew it.

 
I sewed the zipper in place.  You will notice below that I left the zipper long to cover over the snaps.
 

Then I pinned down the rest of the zippers & sewed them down.

I left the end long, so the snaps wouldn’t show on the finished bracelet.
When I was done sewing, I evened up the ends by cutting the zippers straight across at the end of the bracelet.

Lastly, I hand stitched the edges/end where the sewing machine wouldn’t get to, so the zippers weren’t flopping everywhere.

The end result, showing the closure.  I think next time I will put the snaps closer to the ends of the bracelet.
It pops up a little bit & I wanted it to lay totally flat.
But, you know, trial & error, that’s how we learn.

If you have any questions about the steps, email me at amy at amycarriere.com.  I may end up doing a tutorial on adding snaps or even creating the tube that I used as a base.  Not sure if anyone would need any of that, so let me know if you’d like to see it.