Red and Blue Bird Fabric Nursing/Teething Necklace

Little Miss E loves to grab things like my hair, my face, my shirt, or basically anything within her reach while nursing or being carried. Further, everything she can reach, goes into her mouth. Being that the majority of my pre-baby jewelry isn't baby-friendly, I was on the search for alternatives. Some refer to it as "chewlery." Many nursing/teething necklaces also include a wood teething ring as a pendant (look for a future post!).

There are plenty of great tutorials out there so this isn't anything new (just new to me). There are also many beautiful ones sold on Etsy and by other individual businesses. With scrap fabric at home, I made mine based on Skip to My Lou Blog: Bead & Knot Fabric Necklace Tutorial. Things I did differently:

• double-stitched the fabric tube before turning it right-side-out (to make sure the wood balls will be super secure) 
• double-stitched the ribbon to the fabric ends
• used a longer strip of fabric 50" x 4.5" and then adjusted the length by cutting the ends after knotting in the wood balls
• used nine, unfinished 1 inch diameter wood balls instead of beads (no need for the holes)
• to prevent the ends of the ribbon from fraying, melt the edge of the ribbon slightly with a lit match

I love this idea of braiding the ends in this tutorial (instead of using ribbon): A Little Bit of Sunshine:make something monday :: teething necklace. May try it for the next necklace!

Note: The necklace is meant to be a mama accessory, not a baby toy. Never let a baby play with the necklace unattended. As far as cleaning the necklace goes, hand wash with a little detergent and air dry.