wednes-diy: friendship bracelets

a couple of weeks ago, inspired by a tutorial on honestly…wtf, one of my coworkers was inspired to bring back her love for making friendship bracelets, and created this masterpiece :) personally, i’ve only ever been able to do the straight line across or the V pattern, so i had to know how to do this.

for this tutorial we’ll learn how to make a smaller scale version of the bracelet, and once you get the basic steps down you can start experimenting with more string and lots of colors!

friendship-bracelet-diy

what you need: embroidery thread, scissors and tape.

click read more to see the full tutorial!

friendship-bracelet-diy

start by selecting four colors of string and cut two long pieces of each one – remember, you always need more string than you think you will ;) knot them together and tape down.

separate the strings so you have one of each color on each side, and make sure they’re in the same order on each side.

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starting with the outside color, make what looks like a four by crossing the purple over the next string (green), wrap it around and then pull upwards towards the knot at the top*

*each time you make one of these “four” knots throughout the tutorial, you’ll repeat it, so you’re making two knots each time. this is important!

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repeat this step on the next two strings and stop at the middle.

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now you’re going to do the same thing on the other side, but backwards – start with the outside color again, and make a backwards four knot. repeat on the next two strings.

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knot the purple strings together to complete the V.

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repeat this with each color.

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here’s where it gets a little tricky: take the yellow string on the left-hand side, and do a backwards four knot around the string to its left (pink).

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repeat this on the next two strings, working your way outwards.

next, take the yellow on the other side and do a frontwards four knot around the string to its right (pink).

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repeat on the next two strings, working your way outwards. set the yellow strings aside.

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take the next color on the inside (pink) and knot them together.

repeat the same thing you did with the yellow string, going backwards and working your way out (basically making an upside down V) but do not knot the pink string around the yellow – stop when you reach the outside and set the string aside.

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so for the green string in this example, knot the two green strings together and then you’re only knotting them around the purple string.

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knot the purple together – this will be the center of your little circle.

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with the green string to the left of the purple, do a frontwards four knot around the lefthand purple string.

with the other green string, do a backwards four knot around the righthand purple string.

knot the green strings together.

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do the same thing with the pink string, knotting it around the purple and green, and then knotting them together when you reach the middle. then repeat the same steps with the yellow.

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voila! you have your little fish. from here you can repeat all the steps from the beginning of the tutorial to keep going until the bracelet reaches your desired length :)

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for the pattern on the right, just skip the V part and keep repeating the steps starting where i said it was getting a little tricky :)

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another cute tip? when you’re finished, braid some of the leftover string togehter :)

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now you can practice and work your way up to one with more string! the bracelet in the center has sixteen pieces of string across, and the one on the right has 28 across!

thank you to our operations coordinator for this awesome tutorial :)

Be sure to check out our new DIY Projects category for more DIY Inspiration!

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aria
12 years ago

thanks for this!! i love it. when is the july catalog dropping?? cant wait!!

Zahara
12 years ago

OMG!! I totally remember making these in the late 80’s! I used to safety pin them to my jeans when I was weaving them as I always seemed to pull the taped part off the table. Thanks so much, can’t wait to pull this out & teach my kids how to make these!

12 years ago

I a guy so I never thought I would enjoy making friendship bracelets, but for some reason my older brother started to make them and he got me into it.

rika
12 years ago

I’ve been trying to bring back friendship bracelets too so I’m so excited this tutorial is up :) Thank you so much!!!

12 years ago

yesssss! i want to go home and make one right now!

Alexis
12 years ago

Oh man, I had to dig out the super ultimate zillion color embroidery thread collection that my cousin and I put together when we were 14 for this one. It isn’t summer unless you have a bunch of friendship bracelets on your wrist!

12 years ago

I’m beyond excited that you posted this DIY! I have so many colors of embroidery thread collected over the years to make bracelets but always got bored of the same patterns! I can’t wait to try this and give them away as gifts :D

12 years ago

love it! i always made these in class in high-school! haha :)

12 years ago

awesome guys! i will get crackin on this after work!!! thanks for sharing xo

http://www.karacterblog.com

Silver
12 years ago

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!!

Taylor
12 years ago

Fun thing to do while watching TV! Can’t wait to try this pattern!
http://www.forsurejadore.blogspot.com

12 years ago

So excited to get started on this! I loved making these when I was younger and was thinking the other day “I wish I could remember how to make those!” This made my day! Thank you SO much!

12 years ago

we have been making these for years! I just taught my daughter a few months ago. Such a fun and creative craft!

12 years ago

Hey I wanted some pointers on my blog! If u could give me some ideas that would be great! Our blog isn’t workiing out so well….but freepeoples has gaven me some insperation thanks

jenny
12 years ago

love it! where did you get your string from?!

12 years ago

I remember making these when I was a kid! I actually still have some of those bracelets!! Great tutorial. :)

No name
12 years ago

I love the bracelets! They look really cool and I am going to try them because they looks so cool! I have never a bracelet like that. I sounder how someone would have thought of that and I think that the person that made this up is very creative and very spiritual in making those type of bracelets so keep up the hard work, because I love bracelets like this!

No Name

edina
12 years ago

O MY GOD I LOVE IT..very good perfect style

TB
11 years ago

Wow thanks for showing us how to make them! I love friendship bracelets. I’ve come pretty far along I think. I can now make cupcakes, M&ms, zig zags, Tootsie Rolls, watermelons, etc. Thanks again.

http://www.braceletsbydesign.weebly.com

Ashley
11 years ago

U are so awesome I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous
10 years ago

Ahhhh! Me and my best friend spend our summer vacations making these for each other, but the coolest thing I could do was the V pattern. In so excited to make one like this! Thanks for the tutorial!

C
10 years ago

Thanks, SO COOL. going to make the V shape one – maybe even give as a present for christmas! I have made a heart shaped one before – looked so cool. But i kept getting lost! :)

Alex
10 years ago

I LOVE those bracelets. How long did it take to make those and how much string do you usually use? I would to make them for my mom for Christmas

9 years ago

Wow.. Something new to try, Tks for sharing!!!!