Recycled Wool Sweater Beads

Use an old wool sweater to create this fantastic recycled craft idea! Recycled Wool Sweater Beads from Rebecca Parsons look great as part of a necklace.


 

Materials:

• An old wool sweater
• Scissors
• Fabric glue
• Cotton swabs on a plastic stick (important that they be plastic with a hole through the middle)
• Wooden chopstick
• Embroidery floss
• Clear beading thread
• Gold thread if desired
• Beading needle (sharp)
• Assorted beads
• Bowl for water

Instructions:

1. To felt, I washed the sweater in hot water and dried it on high in the dryer.
    
2. I cut the sleeve off of the sweater. Following the stripe patterns, I cut strips of the felt.
    
3. I then cut the strips into 1″ and 1-1/2″ sections.
   
   
    
4. For the long beads, I lightly applied fabric glue to the inside of the felt piece.
    
5. I quickly rolled the 1-1/2″ felt pieces around a inexpensive plastic cotton swab. I do this for 3 reasons: it gives stability to the bead, allows me to have something to run the wire or thread through, and gives me something to hold on to as I later apply small beads to the felt bead.
   
   
    
6. I secured them with embroidery floss in a coordinating color. I wrapped and tied the embroidery floss around the beads tightly while the glue dries.
   
   
    
7. I squeezed them tightly to make sure the glue was well integrated in the fibers.
    
8. For larger beads, I rolled damp 1″ felt piece around a bamboo chopstick.
   
   
    
9. I allowed them to dry like this overnight so they wold form the round shape.
    
10. For the felt ball beads, I took the trimmings and odd bits and placed them in a bowl of water.
    
    
     
11. This is the messy fun part: I squeezed a dime size dollop of glue into my palm and put some of the damp (not dripping wet) felt bit in my palm and coated them.
    
    
     
12. I then rolled my palms together in a circular movement squeezing to compress the fibers and shape them into a ball. You can use more glue if you want. Experiment until you find what works for you. It took me a few minutes to create a well-compressed and round bead. So be patient.
    
    
     
13. Then I let them dry overnight.
    
    
     
14. To my great joy, the beads held together through the night. I could now decorate them.
    
    
     
15. I used clear beading thread to sew the long ends of the large beads from the bamboo chopstick together. I also ran the needle through some seed beads while I was stitching the ends together.
     
16. I then wrapped gold thread around the long beads because I thought they needed something to make them shine. I wrapped it around the seed beads randomly. I tied and trimmed the ends of the thread leaving the ends of the thread and floss to add texture.
    
    
     
17. I also left some of the beads wrapped with floss to make some contrast.