I make a lot of my own clothes and accessories but I don't make a lot of jewelry. I was at a local independent craft store a few months ago and I found these unfinished wooden bangles in a clearance bin and thought I could probably do something with them.

They sat in my craft supply cabinet until I was sorting through my sewing patterns the other day, admiring the illustrations and hairstyles and I thought I should decoupage on those bangles with vintage sewing pattern images.

No vintage patterns were harmed in the making of these bangles, though! I searched my Pinterest boards and found some vintage pattern images that I loved and saved them to my desktop. I also printed off the back of a pattern envelope and a vintage tape measure image that I found for free online for the backgrounds. You can use images that you find online for personal use ( just for you to wear and enjoy, not for sale) or you can scan your own images if the copyright has expired for your for sale crafts.

You will need:
modpodge
an inexpensive paint brush
unfinished wooden bangles
scissors
images that you want to use




Begin by cutting out all of your images and laying them out so you can decide where you want to place them. Once they're placed, they can be hard to move without ripping the paper.






Next, coat your bracelet in a thin layer of Modpodge so the images will stick




I started with the flat bangle and lined the edge of the bangle up with the edge of my pattern envelope image. I rolled the bangle across the paper and trimmed off the excess.




Next, layer a coat of Modpodge on top of the paper and place your cut-outs on top of the background. Finish with a final layer 1-2 coats of Modpodge, allowing each layer  to dry between coats.





If you use a curved bangle like I did here, you'll want to make small snips with the scissors in the paper so it lays flat around the curves of the bracelet.






When the bangles are fully dry, you can run the edges on a piece of sandpaper to smooth out any hardened glue or scrappy paper bits.