Body chains have been a popular staple for summer wear for the second year in a row. They’re an adorable way to dress up a bikini, or summer dress, or crop top and shorts! Unfortunately, the body chains I’ve come across in stores have either been cheaply made and break easily, or obscenely expensive! I’ve put together this DIY tutorial because they are actually extremely easy AND cheap to make. If you are at all used to using jump rings and pliers, you could probably make one in about 30 minutes!
If you’ve never made any jewellery before, I’d recommend watching a few youtube videos on the basics before you begin. Mainly, just practice opening and closing jump rings because that’s the only thing we’ll be doing!
Materials needed:
- Chain – any thickness that you like, in any colour that you like! The amount you’ll need will depend on your height. I used just under 1metre, and I’m 5’0″ for reference!
- Jump Rings in a matching color (or not – mismatch if you want it’s your life!)
- Clasp in matching color. I wouldn’t recommend the ones I used but they were the only gold ones I had. Go for a lobster clasp if you can!
- Two pairs of pliers. One needle nose helps a lot if you have them.
Step One: The first thing you’re going to do is make a regular necklace using your chain, a jump ring, and your clasp! You’ll want the necklace to at least reach your natural waist if not a little longer. I used a mannequin the same size as me to measure but you can drape the chain on yourself and find the length that works for you!
Step Two: This step is optional, and is purely for design. I just attached a couple jump rings together to make a mini chain as a decorative step. You could also put a different colour or size chain here, or beads, gems, or anything really. I just wanted to keep it simple. Once you get the shape and general technique of making a body chain you can get creative and crazy with it.
Step Three: Now we create the part that goes around the waist. This will literally be the same as step one, except you’ll make it to fit around your waist instead of your neck. Make sure you make it fit loosely, because you’ll be moving around while you’re wearing it and you don’t want it to be tight or uncomfortable. So you’re going repeat step one: measure chain, attach clasp on one side, and a jump ring on the other to form a hoop.
Step Four: Using a jump ring, attach the middle of waist hoop/necklace to the dangle chain part (these are real technical terms here..). See above for what I mean!
You can see in the above photo how the waist chain is just a necklace that hangs on your waist.
That’s it! Seriously, it’s super simple and easy, but look how cute it turns out!
Bonus! If you take the waist chain and put it around your neck, it doubles as a cool necklace!
I hope you have enjoyed this tutorial! Please let me know if you have any questions at all, and if you make your own body chain take photos and be sure to show them to me!
Be First to Comment