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DIY Friendship Bracelets
I remember making so many friendship bracelets when I was younger. I gave them away, I wore them myself, and I think I may have even put some on my stuffed animals! Teaching my kids to make them brings back so many memories. Now, they can make them and give them to all of their friends!
You will need ...
- Embroidery Floss in various colors
- Masking Tape
- Scissors
Step One
Pick your colors and plan your pattern. For the kids, I started off with two different colors, four total strands (so two strands of each color). I made sure that the colors were not similar so that it was easier to see when what they were doing. Once they understood the patterns, then they moved on to doing varying shades of the same color.
Step Two
Measure out the floss. A safe measurement is double the length from your fingertips to your shoulder.
Step Three
Gather up all the strands and make sure they are even on one end. Then carefully tie a knot with all strands, leaving about 3 inches of room between the end of the floss and the knot. Then, secure the knot down with a piece of tape so that it does not move when creating the pattern.
Step Four
Next, lay all the strings out next to each other so they fan out from where the knot is. This way, you can set the pattern in which the colors are going to go. For example, if you have the six colors of the rainbow, red will be first on the left, then orange, then yellow, then green, then blue, then purple will be the last strand on the right side.
Step Five
Now let’s start with the basic pattern. Take the first strand on the left (we’ll call it the red one) in your left hand and take the second strand (orange) in your right hand. Then, cross the red strand over the orange one to create a “4” shape. Next, loop the red strand under the orange one, then through the “hole” of the “4” shape. Holding the orange strand tightly with one hand, gently pull the red strand up towards the knot with the other hand to create your first knot. [Be sure to pull just enough to create knot – if you pull too tightly when making the knots, your bracelet will become misshapen]. Repeat this step again with the same red and orange strand.
Then, the red strand will move on to repeat this “two-knot” pattern with the strand next to the previous one (in this case, the yellow strand). After the red strand makes the two knots on the yellow strand, it will move on to make another two knots on the green strand. This pattern will continue until the red strand has made two knots on the purple strand, the last strand in the row. At this point, the red strand will become the “last strand.”
Step Six
To continue the pattern, the next row will be a row of orange knots. It will start with the orange strand making two knots on the yellow strand, then repeating the above steps until the orange strand makes the final two knots on the red strand. Then, the orange strand becomes the final strand.
Repeat this pattern until the bracelet reaches the desired length. The bracelet should fit around the wearer’s wrist with just enough room to fit two fingers between the wrist and the bracelet.
Step Seven
Once the desired length is reached, tie a knot at the end just like the knot at the beginning. To make the ends a little cuter, I like to braid the end strands for about 2 inches or however long you have left of the strands. Then tie them off and dab a little clear nail polish on the knot and ends to secure.