Stylish New Uses for Your Old Jewelry

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Wrap a shawl around your waist, and that shawl becomes a sarong. Put a sweater over a dress, and that dress becomes a skirt. Scrunch a tube top around your neck, and that tube top becomes a cowl. Most of us are pretty open to letting our clothing multitask. But what about jewelry? Jewelry can do more than just adorn, and some very simple tricks can totally transform how certain pieces get worn. Here are a few ways that I (and my fellow bloggers) have retooled our jewels.

Any bracelet with a clip closure that fastens securely -- such as a lobster claw clasp or spring ring -- can be used to lengthen a necklace. Clip the bracelet clasp to the jump ring of the necklace and then use the jump ring of the bracelet to attach the necklace clasp. Voila! Your necklace is several inches longer. This can also work if both necklace and bracelet both have toggle clasps, but the links won't be as secure. E has done this several times with her orange F21 necklace. The piece is actually a bib-style, but she prefers to wear it longer.

If you've got a clasp-less necklace of a problematic length, try using a clasped necklace to elongate and double it up. Fold the clasp-less necklace in half, thread the clasped necklace through the folds, close the clasp, and presto! A longer, double-strand necklace is temporarily created.

Sometimes you want your outer layers to be boxy or cozy, but sometimes they look better fitted. Dress clips may have gone the way of the dodo, but using a brooch to cinch a blazer or cardigan from the back works wonders. So long as you don’t use a gigantic brooch that will pierce your spine whenever you lean back into your chair, this is a great way to do some on-the-fly tailoring AND add interest to otherwise staid pieces. Learn this trick from Kasmira, who is pictured above demonstrating it.

In case you don’t have jump rings, needlenose pliers, and the other trappings of jewelry-making just sitting around, here’s a way to shorten up a chain necklace in two shakes. Pass the pointy end of a safety pin through a chain link, as shown. Use the safety pin in place of the ending jump ring -- meaning, attach the necklace clasp to the safety pin instead. Isn’t it weird that E lengthened her orange bib necklace, while I shortened mine? What are the chances?

In response to my post on what to do with brooches, beautiful Bridget sent in this photo. Seriously, how clever is this? She’s used a brooch to shorten extra long spaghetti straps on her dress. We can’t see the front, but this technique pulls the bodice up a bit, making the dress less revealing and more fitted. Plus it creates a really cool crisscross strap effect in the back!

I realize that many people think wearing matching bracelets on both wrists is a bit odd, but I love doing this. Perhaps it stems from my love of Wonder Woman, whose bullet-deflecting cuffs