DIY Wednesday: Make a bib necklace with vintage pins

This is the first of my projects putting to use my grandmother's vintage pin collection. (See the whole collection here.) I got inspired by Glamourai to make some big chunky thing out of them. I separated out the silver pins.

Then I went online and looked for images of bib necklaces. I liked the shape of this one and printed it out on 8 1/2 by 11 paper.

I laid my pins out on the photo to see if this shape and size would work. I held the printout up to a window and traced the outline slightly larger (since I wanted a larger necklace) and cut it out to make my pattern.

I cut out a piece of felt using the pattern. I then used leftover fabric from my shirt pillow project. I pinned the pattern to the fabric and cut out two bib shapes, adding half an inch for a seam allowance. I sewed the pieces togther, wrong sides facing out, leaving the top ends of the bib open (where the ribbon would go.) I glued the felt to one piece and then turned the bib right side out.

For a better explanation, see this tutorial at CraftStylish.

I cut two pieces of silver ribbon about 18 inches long.

I tucked the raw edges of the bib under and inserted the ribbon.

I pinned both ribbons in place and then stitched the two seams.

I used clip-on earrings to hide the stitching.

I then slowly and carefully pinned everything on, starting with the larger pins. I filled in the gaps with the smaller pins. I folded down the other end of the ribbons and stitched to prevent raveling.

Below is the finished product. Mr. Bromeliad thinks it's too big and too much. (Ironically, I thought necklace would be too small when I started out.) If someone tossed me into a pond, I'd drown from the weight of it.

What do you think? Make it smaller? Or do they call it a statement necklace for a reason? If so, what am I saying?