Hi Maria,

When I made mine I tried to keep the coins all close to the same size because you get a more uniform look when you are placing them like fish scales. You want to keep the rows spaced as uniformly as possible. They should look like the little diagram below but the two on the top should be slightly overlapping the one on the bottom. (Unfortunately, I can't make it look like that in the diagram but I hope you get the idea.) If you start this way you'll immediately begin to see how it works.

O O
O

Once you have the first two coins sewn on then start to sew the first coin of your second row below that. Placing the coin slightly underneath and between the first two coins of your first row. Think of how roof shingles are placed - staggered but slightly overlapping. You will want to leave a bit of a gap between each coin in a row so that on the row below it you'll have a spot to place the loop of the coin and the ones above will overlap. It's a little tricky to explain. I'm a 40D and I guess if those coins were still used as currency, coin bra would be worth a Sultan's fortune, I know it feels like it weighs 20 lbs. So you better have super sturdy straps going around the back and your shoulders/neck.

---Gadhira

UGGGH!

I had the circles spaced so they made a triangle shape but when I hit submit it moved the bottom one to the left. So ignore that. They need to be arrainged in a triangle shape.

Sorry about that.

---Gadhira

I also worked mine with same size coins just to make it easier. I worked mine differently as I started from the bottom and worked my way up. That way you can see exactly where they will be sitting.

The advice I was given and found valuable is to sew through each coin 3 or 4 times. Those coins can ve very sharp and cut through the thread if you don't.

Good luck with it.