How To Shorten A Chain Necklace Without Cutting It

You’ve been waiting for your chain necklace to arrive for weeks. It finally arrives, and you hurry to put it on only to find it’s way too long. This is a common problem for lots of online shoppers when buying jewellery. It can be difficult to know how a chain fits without trying it on. 

If you’ve experienced this, you’ve most likely ended up returning that piece of jewellery or having to get it altered by a jeweller. But what if you need to wear that piece of jewellery for a special occasion that is coming up?

In this blog, we go over how to shorten a chain necklace without cutting it. We'll provide you with a variety of potential solutions to this common problem. 

Wrap It Around Your Neck

If your chain necklace is very long, try wrapping it around your neck a second time and connecting the two ends as you would. For this method, you'll want a chain necklace to be able to wrap around your neck at least twice. When doing this you want to ensure there's still enough space to breathe and that the blood supply isn't cut off.

Clasp Onto A Link

If your chain has enough room between each link, try and put your clasp through one of the links instead of the clasp ring. This work well for chains like the curb chain as they have large gaps within their link structure. This method won't work on chains like the rope chain or herringbone chain as there are no gaps between links. 

Use An Earring

Another simple method of shortening a chain necklace without cutting it is to use an earring. Take an earring and put it through two of the links on opposite ends of your chain necklace. Once done, close the earring with the backing. 

This method is perfect if you have a stud earring or hoop earring laying around. Don't have any earrings? The same thing can be achieved using a paper clip. 

Before attempting this ensure that your chain necklace is suitable for this. Chains like the Cuban chain, Figaro chain and curb chain are ideal for this method. Chains like the herringbone chain and rope chain won't work as their links are too close together.

Buy A Chain Necklace Shortener

If you’ve got a bit more time on your hands, why not invest in a chain necklace shortener? There are so many options online to choose from that solve this problem with ease.

Chain shorteners are essentially small double-sided lobster clasps. The chain shorteners can be hooked to either end of the chain necklace through links. This allows you to make a shorter chain. This method only works on chain necklaces with gaps between each link.

The infinity clip is even easier to use. All you have to do is pinch the chain necklace together to the length you want it to be, then add the clips on. The infinity clip works for chains between 0.8mm to 1.3mm thick only. If your chain is thicker you may want to try some of the methods mentioned above.

Conclusion

We hope you now have a better understanding of how to shorten a chain necklace without cutting it. We went through the various methods of shortening a chain necklace including wrapping it around your neck, clasping it onto a link, using an earring or paperclip or buying a chain necklace shortener. 

You should now be able to shorten that chain necklace in time for that special event of yours!

Avoid this problem from happening again by ensuring you get the right chain length. We wrote a guide on how to choose the perfect chain length to help you out with this!

Looking to learn more about chain necklaces? Have a read of our ultimate guide to chain necklaces.