tutorial: jcrew rhinestone bracelet

I promised a tutorial for the JCrew bracelet I made. You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.
Here we go!

You'll need:

• A cuff, bracelet, or bangle with a flat surface. Mine was 1/2 inch wide, aluminum cuff., found on Etsy.
• Rhinestone trim in two different sizes, the length of your bracelet. I used one row of 6mm for the middle, 2 rows of 3mm for the sides, found on eBay but some Joann's may have it. Your three rows of rhinestones should be the same width as your cuff.
• Glue. I used E6000. I'm sure if a glue gun would work but I like to be able to adjust the rhinestones as I go.
• About 1 1/2 yards of lightweight ribbon. I used 7mm, pure silk ribbon, found on eBay. I'm not sure that a heavier ribbon like grosgrain would work. You could also use strips of a lightweight fabric.
• Scissors, paper towels, whatever else makes you happy.

Spread glue all over the cuff. It's okay if there's glue showing inbetween the rhinestones because it'll get covered by the ribbon.

Add your large rhinestone trim down the middle of the cuff, cut off at the end.

Add your smaller rhinestone trim to one side, cut off at the end, and repeat on the other side. Let it dry for a couple hours or so. Or in my case, just long enough to get my ribbon out.

Glue the end of your ribbon down underneath the end of the cuff.

Start wrapping. Some of your side rhinestones may get covered which is fine, but make sure to wrap inbetween your large ones. Put a little bit of glue at the other end of your ribbon and with a flat tip (scissors, screw driver) tuck it under the wrapped ribbon. And that's it!

The originals from JCrew were about $35 each. So I saved at least $30 per bracelet. ;-)

For the pink bracelet I used 6mm and 4mm rhinestones which also fit on the same 1/2 inch cuff. But I think I like the 3mm rhinestones on the white cuff better, though you can't really see the difference in the pictures.

On the white bracelet I placed the rhinestones all the way to the tips of the cuff and started wrapping after that. But for the pink I put the rhinestones down a little and tried to wrap the ends of the bracelet, which was awkward and not great.

I also think this would look good using different stone trim like this or this.

And wouldn't this bracelet look great with a few of these? Yes, yes it would.