Friday 16 March 2012

Simple Gift



How To Make A Simple Friendship Bracelet






Mexican Friendship Bracelets
Friendship bracelets
Via Tumblr



This easy pattern was printed out from the net and given me by a friend - sadly she did not make a note of the site from which it came. So .... apologies .... however, nice easy description. Thank you Z. 
I bought the threads from a local bead shop mentioned in an earlier post - they also have leather strips, which might make a more 'manly' bracelet.


I have left much  longer threads at the end and fastened them all together with a safety pin and put onto a hook (the one we hang the Christmas stockings from). I have then worked from below the threads - sitting on the floor in fact! I have used a polyester material bought from the bead shop although strips of any material would have the same effect.


As two hands are needed at all times to hold the threads tight it was impossible to post photos along the way. I shall try a second over the weekend when someone can photograph the process as I do it.



The Method






1..
I have assigned each strand a letter, A, B, C, and D.
Start by taking strand D and crossing it over both strands C and B.


2..
The strands should now be arranged A D B C
Take Strand B and cross it over strand D


3..
The strands should now be arranged A B D C
Take Strand A and pass it over both strands B and D.



4..
The strands should now be arranged B D A C
Take Strand D and cross it over strand A


5..
The strands should now be arranged B A D C
Take strands B A into the left hand and strands D C into the right and tighten the braid.




6..
B A D C
Take strand C and cross over strands D and A.



7..
The strands should be arranged B C A D
Take strand A and pass it over strand C.



8..
The strands should be arranged B A C D
Take strand B and cross over strands A and C.


9..
The strands should be arranged A C B D
Take strand C and pass it over strand B.



10..
The strands should now be arranged A BC D
Take strands A B into the left hand and strands C D into the right and tighten the braid.


Repeat until desired length



I have used the pattern but with a slight variation to make it easier (and because I only had the two colours) - I used the two colours only (black and pink) and cut the polyester thread much longer at each end - the pink to bind the ends -  wound and then stuck eventually with fabric glue, and the black to cross over and give a slip knot to allow easy access - just open and slip on and off the wrist.

I choose these colours and design as the girl on the till in the supermarket last week had one that looked like this and it looked very pretty - I often copy stuff as I am not too artistic and poor at choosing colour matches!

So as not to confuse myself I put a safety pin on the end of each pink and each black with a label and called them A,B,C,D. The thread came from a bead shop and for another variation I have decided to make more and put beads in among the threads at different levels on each colour.











Now for something a little more difficult!

3 comments:

  1. Oh those are lovely - I have bags of somewhat grubby embroidery thread from my younger days, when having a half made bracelet hanging from my knee by a pin was the norm!

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  2. I used to make loads of these when I was a kid (albeit from different patterns) In fact, somewhere in Canadian public television archives, there's a film of me showing how to make them...

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  3. Very pretty! Thanks for sharing the instructions Annabelle. You've inspired me to make one. I will post a picture afterwards. Love the pink and black combination!

    ReplyDelete

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