make it: fabric wrapped bangle earrings

i have a big love of big earrings, but sometimes they can hurt the lobes a little after a long day of dangling! these lightweight, fabric wrapped bangles are made using scrap fabric and yogurt lids from the recycling box. they are very quick and easy to make and require no sewing at all.

you will need. . .

• scissors
• small pair of pliers
• quick drying glue
• recycled plastic - plastic container lids work well)
• circular template to trace the shape of the earrings - here is one i prepared earlier, which make earrings approximately 5 cms wide
• scrap fabric cut into strips approximately 75mm wide. it doesn't really matter how long the strips are, but longer is better as it is a pain to keep gluing ends down
• earring hooks - easily thrifted from an ugly pair around the house or from the op-shop
• thin wire to wrap around the top of the hoop and secure the earring hooks - i used 24 gauge silver-plated but anything flexible enough to wrap neatly will do

to make. . .

1. trace the shape of your earring onto your chosen piece of plastic and cut it out
2. starting at the thickest part of the hoop, tightly wrap the fabric strip around the plastic. make sure you are overlapping each wrap enough so the plastic doesn't show through
3. when the whole hoop has been wrapped, glue down the end on the backside of the hoop
4. when the glue is dry, wrap a bit of wire around the thinnest part of the hoop a few times, slip the hook onto the wire and create a loop for the hook - make sure the back of your earring will end up facing the right way if the glue is obvious
   
5. wrap the rest of the wire around the hoop and tidy up the wire ends

that's all folks!