After making my woven crochet cowl, I thought it would be fun to use the technique to make a choker (and also a bracelet, headband, and ring). To make the pattern work on a smaller scale, I decided to work with crochet thread and 1/8" ribbon and the end result is pretty nice if I do say so myself. I have made a couple of examples including rainbow on white or black and blue ombre on silver!

Instructable 304

Etsy

You can buy this rainbow choker (or request a custom one) in my Etsy Store.

Step 1: Supplies

Here is a list of everything I used to make a choker, bracelet, and ring. Your supplies will vary slightly depending on your closure.

Supplies:

Size 10 Crochet Thread
1/8" ribbon in colors of choice
7 / 1.65mm Crochet Hook
Yarn Needle
E6000 Glue
Fray Check or Super Glue
Tapestry Needle (optional)
Collapsible Needle (optional)
Beads (2 per choker)
Button (1 per bracelet)

Sizing:

Black Choker: 10.25" band - 11.5" with triangle ends - 35" with strings (11.5" strings) - 123sts
Silver Bracelet: 4 5/8" band - 5 5/8" with triangle ends - 57sts
Black Bracelet: 4.5" band - 5 5/8" with triangle ends - 53 sts
White Headband: 11.25" band - 12.5" with triangle ends - 35.5" with strings (11" and 11.5" strings) - 123 sts (this one was kind of a mess)
Ring: 2.25"? (hard to measure) - 24sts

The bracelets are a good example of the length the triangles can add. With the silver, the triangles weren't as wide so they didn't go as long and the black one had longer triangles since the bracelet was wider.

Step 2: Choker Base

Start with your choker base. You are going to want to crochet a chain that is an odd number and the length should be so you have about 1-1.5" of space between the ends if you were to wrap it around your neck.

Once you reach the end, make a faux double crochet or chain 3.
Do a double crochet in the 4th chain from the hook, so you should now have 2 double crochets.
Chain 1.
Skip the next stitch and do a double crochet in the next stitch in the chain.
Chain 1.
Repeat 4 and 5 until you have 2 stitches left in your base chain.
Do a double crochet in each of the last two stitches.

Now chain 3 and double crochet in the second double crochet from the end below. Chain 1 and skip the next stitch. Double crochet in the next stitch. Repeat across and for each row.

I tried to draw up a little chart to help it make more sense.

Go until you have enough rows to weave your ribbons through, I needed 7 open rows.

Don't cut your thread; you'll use it as you continue on in the next step.

Pattern:

Ch about 123 (my black choker is that long)
Ch3, DC, *Ch1, skip stitch, DC next stitch, repeat from *, last stitch is a DC (row should end with 2 DC right next to each other)
Turn Ch3, DC, *Ch1, skip stitch, DC next stitch, repeat from *, last stitch is a DC (row should end with 2 DC right next to each other)
Repeat this pattern until you have enough open rows for your ribbons. I had 1 ch row and 7 rows.

Step 3: Tie Edges

Once you are done with the main body of the choker, you need to do the ends. The basic finish is a tie edge.

Turn your work so you are looking at the edges of your rows.

Our goal here is to decrease down until we have a point. We don't want to decrease too slow or the edge will be too long and we don't want to decrease too fast or it will bunch up too much. I found decreasing by about 2 stitches a row was decent.

Chain 1
2Sc into each Double Crochet chain so you should have (if you did the 7 open rows like me) 14sts across.
Turn your work
Chain 1
Sc into the second stitch from the end, we are going to skip that first one to decrease.
Sc across, but do a Sc decrease into the center so for me that row looked like
- 4-6 above is: Ch, skip first, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, dec sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc should be down to about 12sts not counting that first sc you skipped/the first chain.
Again, we want to ch, skip first, sc, sc, sc, sc dec sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc should now have about 10.
Repeat in this pattern
Once you get to your point, make a chain that is about XXX" long

You don't have to follow this religiously. You just want to decrease until you get to a point, but below is the written pattern.

Pattern:

Sc across (2 in each Dc chain); 14st
Ch1, skip first sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, dec sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc; 12st
Ch1, skip first sc, sc, sc, sc, sc dec sc, sc, sc, sc, sc, sc; 10st
Ch1, skip first sc, sc, sc, sc, dec sc, sc, sc, sc, sc; 8st
Ch1, skip first sc, sc, sc, dec sc, sc, sc, sc; 6st
Ch1, skip first sc, sc, dec sc, sc, sc; 4st
Ch1, skip first sc, dec sc, sc; 2st
dec sc; 1st
Chain until your chain is about XXXX" long

Step 4: Ends

To finish up your chain ends, I decided to thread on a matching bead, tie a knot, then finish it by using super glue or fray check on the knot. Once it dries, cut the string short.

Step 5: Button Edges

For a bracelet, you are going to want something easier to put on. Trying to tie this on your wrist is too hard.

Do the triangular edge I described previously by starting with 2sc in each Dc chain and then decreasing by 2 each row.

When you get to a point, make a chain that when you loop it back it can fit over the button you want. Then connect it to the tip of the triangle where your chain started and tie it off. Now you have a loop.

For the other end, do the triangular point and when you get to the end, leave a tail before cutting and use that thread to tie your button on. You can tie it wherever on the triangle you need it so the bracelet fits. I had it pretty tight so I tied my button to the point of the triangle.

Remember that it has stretch now, but once you add the ribbon it won't stretch very much because the ribbon just doesn't stretch. So make sure it isn't too snug.

Step 6: Adding Ribbon

Time to add the ribbon. This can be time-consuming.

I highly recommend using a yarn needle to weave through your ribbon.

Take your first yarn and cut a length. Make sure it is long enough, longer is better than too short.

Starting at the end, weave through the double crochets.

NOTE: Keep the ribbon straight, it is a big pain to straighten out once it is in, so try to keep it flat and straight as you go. Also, be careful so the ribbon doesn't fray too much.

You can thread all the ribbons the same or alternate them as I did.

Once you have them all in, you can move onto the next step.

Step 7: Ribbon Needle

After having a lucky streak and selling a bunch of these on Etsy, I realized I needed a much easier way to put the ribbon in the choker because the ribbon kept coming off the needle and twisting. I came up with a ribbon needle that I 3D printed and it still takes time to thread the ribbon in the choker, but this makes it much easier.

Ribbon Needle.stl
Download View in 3D

Step 8: Gluing Ribbons

Time to glue the ribbons.

As you can see in the first picture, my first black choker I made I wanted to try to evenly have the ribbons but this resulted in them being glued front and back which doesn't look good. The white choker, I glued them staggered and they looked better.

Now that you are ready, fold over the ribbons and trim off the excess. I left just enough that I could glue the ribbons to themselves.

Glue them down one at a time and that's it!

You can try attaching them another way. Please share what you try. I debated sewing it, but decided sewing was just going to work out better.

Step 9: Sew in Ends

You can do this whenever you want, but I usually wait until the end. I use a tapestry needle to sew in all my ends.

Step 10: Making a Ring

Making a ring is a little different as it is doing in a circle and not back and forth. So this is done the same as the cowl I made previously.

For the ring, crochet a chain in a multiple of 4. I had 24 stitches.

I didn't want to make it too big, so I just did two rows.

When I did the ribbon, I decided to use the same color so I cut off enough ribbon and wove it through one row, then brought it up from the inside and wove it through the other. You can work on the ring inside out, and then turn it back rightside out when you are done.

I wasn't sure of a good way to do this, so when I had the ribbon woven in, I glued it to itself.

The most difficult thing about the ring is you need the stitches to be a multiple of 4 so it is hard to get it to fit your finger. You could try using a smaller or larger needle to get the spacing right.