DIY

By Renae Ronquist The Woman Today

Iremember way back in the 1970s, my mom, an avid crafter, went through a phase of making macramé everything! The picture window in our living room was filled with a collage of different sizes and colors of macramé plant hangers. She made wall hangings and even hanging owls that you finished off by brushing out the cording to look like fur. Or feathers, I guess. Like fashion, macramé has come back around. The cording is more pleasing to the eye and touch now, unlike the scratchy polyester cording of the ’70s.

I thought I would start out with a really simple pattern for my first time. Once I got the knot figured out I was at the end in no time. And I must say it was pretty easy and quick to make. And this spider plant that my sister gave me this summer looks pretty happy in it! Give it a try, it’s a lot of fun! It’s also a good project to do with your kids.

Supplies

5mm 3 ply rope cut into:

2 - 11-foot lengths

4 - 8-foot lengths

1 - 18-inch length

1 wooden ring

The cording I used was 4.5mm thick, but worked just fine.

Directions

After you have your cording cut, find a place to hang the wooden ring to work on. I used an over-the-door wreath hanger, which worked perfectly.

Feed all the cording though the wooden ring with the two 11-foot pieces on the outside and the four 8-foot pieces in the center. The ends of all six courts on the front side of the ring should be even with the four short lengths of cord. You will use the longer back lengths to tie the knots.

The knot used in this tutorial is a square knot. To start, you will begin making half a square knot, which you will space out a little. (By doing only half the square knot it will give the spiral look.) See diagrams A & B. Make sure the first knot is nice and tight and the center cords are even across. Once you get a few knots completed, you will notice it start to spiral, which is what you want. Continue making these knots around the center cords until your longer cords are about the same length as the others.

At this point, select four cords that lie next to each other and, about 12 inches down, make two full square knots using the two outside cords tied around the two inside cords. See diagrams C & D for making a full square knot. Do this with another set of four cords and then the final four cords, making the knots even with others. See diagram E.

You will then connect the bottom of the cords to each other with another set of knots. Going down about 6 inches, take two cords (one each from neighboring groups) as the center cords and make two full square knots using the two outside cords. Continue around to the next two groups. See diagram F.

At this point, you can test to see if the size pot you plan to use will fit and the knot placements keep the pot secure.

To finish the hanger you will join all of the bottom cords together, using a gathering knot. Gather all the cords so they are aligned nice and neat. Place the 18-inch cord about 6 inches below the previous knots, with the cut end up and, gathering all the bottom cords together, make a 3- to 4-inch loop, and start tightly wrapping the cord around all the cords, leaving the end of the gathering knot cord sticking out the top. See diagram G . Continue wrapping until you get to the bottom of the loop. Feed the gathering knot cord through the loop. Next, pull the top of the gathering knot cord (cut end) up until the bottom part of the cord is tucked under the wrapping. Trim top cord.

I trimmed the bottom ends to be even and unraveled the cording to make a tassel. You could leave them if you like. And you’re done! D

Here’s the video tutorial I followed: https://angkor.me/diy-10-minutes-macrame-plant-hanger/ Reference: Angkor.me com