While a lace dress might not be your style, a necklace made from a piece of lace from your mother's wedding dress will be a welcomed and sentimental addition to your jewelry box.

Here's a great way for you to incorporate your mother's wedding dress into your wedding without actually wearing it. Sentimental and sweet, this DIY lace embellished necklace will be a treasured keepsake for generations to come.  

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You will need:
1 metre sterling silver link chain (available at bead stores)
1 silver clasp
4 silver jump rings
Wire cutters
Lace
Fabric stiffener (equal parts white craft glue and water, mixed in a non-reactive bowl)
Scissors

Here's how to do it:
Step 1: Find and cut a piece of lace with a pleasing pattern (we dyed our lace flower blue with fabric dye!). Immerse in fabric stiffener solution and lay out to dry on a sheet of waxed paper. Repeat if necessary to achieve desired stiffness (ours only required one coat.).

Step 2: Decide how you would like the lace to sit on the necklace and attach 2 jump rings into the lace at appropriate intervals.

Step 3: Use wire cutters to snip the chain to your desired length and attach to jump rings secured in the lace. Optional: Snip the length of chain that runs behind your lace piece, or leave it.

Step 4: Attach 1 jump ring to each end of your chain and affix clasp to the jump rings. Enjoy wearing a moment of happy family history!

Another way to do it:
Personalize your jewelry even further by adding a pendant that's hand-stamped with a significant date of your choice. Click here to learn how to make your own personalized wedding lace necklace.

As you pass it down through your family, each wearer can add their own pendant to truly make this an heirloom memory piece. Our custom pendant came from BragAboutIt on etsy.com.

Get inspired with special tips, expert advice, recipes and crafts in our weddings feature.