Learning macramé techniques
The reason I started to create this bracelet is because I bought some items to learn creating decoration/jewelry using macrame techniques. This is basically knotting.
Macramé
Macramé is a form of textile produced using knotting techniques. The primary knots of macramé are the square and forms of "hitching": various combinations of half hitches.Source
It all sounds so difficult but I've seen plenty of resources online that I felt confident enough to order cord in different thickness and other things to make the decoration look even nicer. I thought starting off with a simple macrame bracelet would be smart, but let me tell you that starting with a project that needs thicker cord is probably smarter. This way you see more clear how a knot is made, and personally I will remember it easier if I actually understand a knot. But for now, I'm going to share with you my first Macrame project anyway: a bracelet!
What do you need?
Length of cords
I chose to make a bracelet in two colors, but the bracelet will be just as nice in only one color, you can decide for yourself. I will only mention the size of the cord.
- 2 macrame cords 1 mm thick and 90 cm long
- 2 macrame cords 1 mm thick and 25 cm long
- 1 macrame cord 1 mm thick and about 50 cm long
- a bead for the middle of the bracelet
You will also need:
- Wooden board to hold the bracelet in place (you can also stick it to your table instead)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Measuring tool
- Something to lift your bracelet a bit from the board for easier knotting (see image below)
The knotting
I have to admit, that I was quite hesitating to start the knotting process because it looked so complicated. But I looked at some videos about the square knot and after just a few knots, you will understand this knot 100%. You will start on the left, and then repeat this process starting with the right cord. I was personally struggling to keep track of left/right because my little lady was constantly talking while I tried to focus. I bet that after a few of these bracelets, focusing will not even be an issue anymore because you can dream the knots.
I tried to capture the process, but found it hard as the cord doesn't stay in place while I also had to hold my phone for the pictures. I kept the pictures in a bigger size for clarity. Hopefully, it's understandable:
You place the long cord (make sure the short cord is in the middle!) below the short cord. Start with the left long cord and place it over the short ones (to the right, on top of the pink ones). Now take the right long cord and bend it down over the left blue cord (see picture above).
Hold the cord like shown in the image above so you won't make a mistake. Now place the right blue cord under pink ones upwards, and under the left blue cord as shown in the image above. It may seem difficult, but after a few times, I promise you will get handy!
Once you start to pull the cord to work towards a knot, the image above is what you will start to see, and suddenly then it's also a clear knot. Slowly move it towards the top and close the knot. As you can see, this is the second knot in this row.
After a few knots, it will look something like this, and you will start to see the pattern more clear.
This one turned out pretty clear compared to the other pictures above (sorry for that!) so I wanted to share this one as well as it may enlighten you if you have some doubts about the knotting.
You repeat this process until you have about 6 cm of knotted cord, with the last two knots it's smart to use some glue on the cord, so the knot is very tight and won't move when you cut the cord short.
I didn't have glue, so I used nail polish top coat instead. Worked fine! Be creative. As you can see, my first part isn't that great, but I understand how it works after this part. Give the glue some time to dry, and check if it stays in place.
If it does, cut the blue ends as short as possible.
Time to repeat the process on the other side of the bracelet. Don't forget to add the glue at the last two knots before you cut the cord.
The closure of the bracelet
Now for the last part we will be knotting the closure that you can adjust by hand. This way the bracelet can be worn by different sizes wrists, and you can easily adjust the size to place it over the hand.
First place the 4 ends of the ribbon that is left on the bracelet next to each other and use a clothespin to hold them in place for the first knot(s). You will now use the last part of cord (about 50 cm) and place it under the pink cord the same was as you did with the rest of the bracelet. You repeat the exact process tying the knots.
Here's the first knot, I removed the clothespin and tested if the closure can slide, which it can so it's done correctly.
Here's what it will look like after a few knots. I have to admit, after knotting this part, I think the bracelet should have been a single color, but that's for next time, creating the bracelet was mostly meant to learn something new today as I never used any macrame technique before. You decide how many knots you wish. Just don't forget to use glue again before cutting off the cord otherwise your work may be for (k)nothing. :)
The end result
I loved learning something new, and I like how it turned out, but now I understand the technique a bit better, I feel I should have knotted a bit tighter at some parts, and use one color. Luckily it doesn't matter that I'm not in love with it as my daughter is, so here we go, it was all worth it!
Conclusion
Learning to knot it probably easier with thicker ribbon, instead of the 1 mm cord for bracelets. I have supplies in the house for bigger macrame projects as well and I think I should start practicing other knots but with the 4 mm thick cord instead. It's more clear that way and once the knot is something I remember by heart, I can move to more detailed projects again.