DIY Best Friend Necklaces

Create a sweet gift for your bestie using yarn and plastic canvas! These DIY best friend necklaces are a fun handmade project that only requires a few supplies.

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Do you remember those awesome best friend necklaces from the ’90s? I had a bunch of them. One of them I’m pretty sure was even a combination mood ring/best friend necklace bought from Claire’s in the mall. One of my favorite best friend necklaces, though, was this large red plastic one. A half heart with the words “ST END” on it in white. I loved it! Today I’m sharing a fun craft inspired by those chunky plastic best friend necklaces, but this time, its handmade using red yarn and plastic canvas.

I recently “discovered” plastic canvas. I’ve always seen it at the craft stores, but after using it to create a fun Christmas wall hanging last year, I have decided I love using it! It is so easy and quick to stitch on compared to cross stitching on Aida cloth.

Below is the tutorial for how I created my best friend necklaces. You could stitch these any way you’d like, though, using any color of yarn! A super sweet gift for your bestie on Valentine’s Day or any time of the year :)

DIY Best Friend Necklace

Supplies Needed:

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Plastic Canvas Hearts– you will need two hearts to create one necklace set, one for each side
Red yarn and pink yarn
Red felt
Large Plastic Canvas Needle
Red thread with regular hand sewing needle
Scissors

Step by Step Tutorial

Step One: Cut the heart canvases to create the broken heart.

You will need two canvas hearts – one for each side of the best friend necklace. Below you can see how I decided to split my heart. You can split it any way you’d like as long as your two sides match up when put together.

I used one heart canvas for each side of the broken heart so that the cut edges were smooth instead of jagged. Below is the first side I cut.

I lined up the first side to cut the next one but made sure the smooth finished edge of the canvas was on the other side. This was the trickiest part of the entire project. Go slow and take your time.

Once I had both sides cut, I used them to cut another set to keep as a template in case I wanted to make these again.

Step Two: Fill in the heart shapes with yarn.

Now, the fun part! Start filling in each heart half with red yarn. Use diagonal stitches – one half of a cross stitch. Keep your diagonal stitches all going in the same direction. To start your stitching, leave a small tail of yarn on the back side and catch it with your first few diagonal stitches to hold it in place.

Fill in the entire heart with diagonal stitches.

Step Three: Go around the edges of each heart half with red yarn.

Once the heart has been filled-in with diagonal stitches, it is time to go around the edges. I started at the bottom and went around the curved side of the heart using a whip stitch. When I got to the cut edge, I continued with my whip stitch, making sure to take an extra stitch at the corners to cover the hard edges of the canvas with yarn.

Below is one side of my heart necklace with the edges all covered.

Step Four: Fill in the empty spot with decorative pink yarn.

Use pink yarn to cover the plastic canvas that is still showing. I passed my pink yarn through a few of my red stitches on the back side and then came up at the bottom point of the heart where the canvas started to show. I laid my pink yarn around the heart and let it lay there.

Thread another needle, or remove the needle from your pink yarn, and thread it with red yarn. Use the red yarn to hold the pink yarn in place. Use small perpendicular stitches spaced evenly apart. When you get to the end, bring both the pink and red yarns to the back of the necklace and pass them through a few stitches to hold them in place.

Step Five: Add yarn loops to create necklaces.

Add large yarn loops to make each side of the heart into a necklace. I used a needle to help get the pink yarn through the top of each heart.

Step Six: Cover the back of each necklace with red felt.

Finish off the back of each necklace with red felt. Trace the heart halves onto the felt and cut them out.

Use red thread to stitch the red felt to the back of each necklace.

The best friend necklaces are finished!! Give one to your bestie any time of the year for a fun nostalgic gift :) Have you ever stitched on plastic canvas? The plastic canvas hearts come in a pack of ten so you can have a lot of fun stitching any cool design you want with these canvas shapes and colorful yarn! :)