DIY nursing/teething necklace

I thought this would be a great DIY to share close to Mother's Day!

For a while now, Audrey has been pulling at everything while she nurses. My hair, her hair, my bra straps, you name it! If she can reach it, it's fair game! One day, when I was looking up something completely unrelated on Kellymom, I stumbled across the topic of nursing necklaces. I'd honestly never heard of them before, but it sounded like such a great idea!

The concept of a nursing necklace is simple... it's just something safe for baby to grab while they nurse.

I found these, which I really liked, and I thought it would be pretty easy to make my own. The great thing about them is that they double as a teething necklace as well!

Here's how I made mine.

Gather your supplies:

• Fabric
• Wooden beads
• Thread 
• Pins
• Measuring tape
• Scissors

For this necklace, I combined different swatches of fabric that I had on hand. They were actually swatches I cut out from a Ralph Lauren fabric book years ago. You can certainly make it easier on yourself and just use one strip of fabric!

First, cut your fabric to about 5" wide, and 58" long. 

Once I had all my swatches cut to 5" wide, I just lined them up, pinned them, and sewed them together. If you're using one piece of fabric, you will obviously skip this step!

Next, fold your fabric strip right-sides together, pin and sew.

Trim the excess fabric.

Flip the fabric so it's right-side out. Now you have a tube of fabric. 

About 10" from the end of your fabric tube, make a knot. 

Drop a wooden bead down the other end of the tube, and make another knot after the bead. 

Continue adding beads and knots.

I used 7 beads, but you can use as many or as little as you like. Once you're done adding beads, cut some fabric off of each end to get your desired length, and to make the necklace even. Fold the ends of the fabric toward the inside of the necklace, and sew them together. 

You could even use pretty ribbon as the string of your necklace, but I didn't want to have to mess with tying ribbon to put it on.

Here's another one I made with just one strip of fabric.

Audrey tested it out! I think she was excited!

I wear these necklaces constantly, and they've really helped! Plus, I think they're kind of cute anyway, even if you don't have a nursing or teething baby!

Hope you're all having a good Monday!