4 September 2014

Everybody loves Macrame bracelets. aka the Josephine knot tutorial at last!


Macrame bracelets. They've been 'having their moment' for a while now, haven't they? I love them too. There's just something about them that's so effortlessly...charming... You can wear them so many ways; they look great on their own, stacked or worn with metal jewellery, watches, etc. Since this post is clearly my most popular one, i've decided to make a tutorial for it. perhaps redundant...since there are tutorials everywhere, but i hope this helps someone somewhere (let me know!)
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot


We will be using 2 different coloured cords here for the tutorial's sake. Plus it looks cool. I picked lavender and coral (yep, used the same ones in the original post too).
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
 So now you should have 4 strands of cord to work with, 2 of each colour. Of course, a pair will be treated as a single cord and i shall name them left cord and right cord!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Once you do a couple of them, it's easy-peasy!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
 By the way that part makes me think of this:
image courtesy of
Oops,got a little distracted! No, let's try again...

DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
See, you've completed 1) and 2) taking the right cord under the left cord tail. From there, you are basically going to again 3) go over the top bit of the left cord
4) under the loop
5) over the right cord (over itself)
6) under the loop again.

Your right cord should travelling in a downward diagnol direction sort-of?? And you're weaving it in a sequence:
1)over
2)under
3)over
4)under
5)over
6)under

Did you get it?? This isn't easy to explain in words, so you might have to try a few times!

But honestly, it makes me think of this! yum!
pretzelllllls
 Distracted again!

DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Anyway, if you've got this sort of interchange-pretzel-heart-shape-thing going, then we're good! Slowly tighten the knot by pulling on the tail ends.
Note: Things will get fiddly.

DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
May I proudly present, the Josephine knot! Woohoo!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Moving on, We will go through the whole thing again, but mirrored for the right cord.
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
The interchange-pretzel-heart-shape-thing stage
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Fiddle me this, fiddle me that...
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Repeat until desired length. I stopped at 5" since I'm going to finish it with a sliding knot. Trim away the excess (which if long enough can be used for the sliding knot!)
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
Sliding knot time
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
One thing i found out the hard way (with the original bracelets) was that the knots would frequently tighten themselves, so although it's painstaking to do, I would recommend dotting the knots here and there with the teeniest bit of glue.
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot
And there you have it!!
DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot


DIY macrame bracelet, josephine knot

Now go make yourselves some! And share your thoughts and pics with me! I wonder why I'm feeling hungry??
:D