How to Make a Washer & Yarn Pendant

I was rooting around in my “projects under consideration” box this morning, and found these pendants I made a while back. They use ordinary hardware store washers and leftover worsted-weight yarn, and they’re easy to make. I think they’d look cute with cool-weather clothes.

You start with a washer — I’m using a 7/16″ one here, but you can use any size you like. And you also need some yarn – about a 36″ strand. You can use really any fiber you like – I’m using some acrylic stuff here. This project could also be interesting with novelty yarns.

So you thread your yarn onto a blunt tapestry needle. Then you take the other end of the strand, and lay about 1/2″ of it against the washer, like you see here.

Next, you bring the needle up through the center of the washer, and begin wrapping the yarn around. Start your wrapping so that you wrap over that end-bit. (This side of the washer is now officially the back side.)

You want to wrap the yarn very tightly around the washer. Tight as you can.

See how the yarn wraps are closer together near the center, and farther apart our at the edges? This is how you want the yarn to lay as you wrap. In a moment, you’re going to wrap a second layer that covers up these spaces.

Here’s the first layer, all wrapped.

Now, flip the washer over so you’re looking at the front side. Begin wrapping the yarn around a second time. And this time, wrap the yarn around each of the spaces you left in your first layer. Again, keep that wrapping very tight!

At some point in this layer, you can add a jump-ring. Just string it onto your needle, and slide it along the yarn up to the washer.

Now, wrap the yarn around the washer tightly, and tweak the jump-ring into place so it’s sitting on the edge of the washer. Make a second tight wrap through the jump-ring.

. . . And then continue wrapping until you’ve wrapped the rest of the washer.

Now you can flip the washer over to the back again. Pass your needle through a few of the wraps on the back. (And if you’ve been wrapping tightly, this won’t be super-easy to do. And that’s a good thing.)

Cut the end of the yarn close to the washer.

. . . And voila! This little guy is a blank canvas. The photo at the top of this post shows a number of ideas for embellishing your pendant. So embellish away, and have fun!

Tagged as: jewelry, tutorial, yarn