How many times have you had a jewelry dilemma turn into a handy solution? This happened to me once while getting ready for a fancy dinner out with my husband. I had picked out the dress and jewelry, but once I started getting dressed, I realize the pearl necklace I wanted to wear was too long. My dress had a collar on it, and the necklace was about 18 inches long. I really had my heart set on wearing my pearls, and I also wanted to include my ruby pendant which added more length to the necklace.

I rushed over to my bead desk and started digging through my wire scraps. Inspiration had hit, and I knew I just need a few inches of wire. However, while digging, I found this stray piece that I thought would work. As you can see, the piece is only about ½ inch long and has a loop on both ends, which face in the opposite direction. To make one from scratch, a ¾ to 1 inch piece of wire would be needed. Then the ends should be curled using a pair of round nosed pliers.

I determined the length I needed the necklace to be and wrapped one loop around the knotted cord between two beads. I put the necklace on and wrapped the other loop on the other side of the necklace in the same way. After a few adjustments, I got the length I needed so the necklace and pendant could be seen. Then I tucked the rest of the necklace in the back under the collar of my dress.

What started out as a frustrating problem, turned into an interesting solution that could be used to adjust the length of any beaded necklace.

All graphics created by Tammy Powley.