Macramé Plant Hangers: Creative Knotted Crafts for Your Stylish Home

By Chrysteen Borja

Adorn your cozy interiors with hand-woven knotted art and hanging plants.

Are you a DIY home decorator, plant lover, or flower lover? We got you!

Macramé plant hangers are the perfect little touch to accent your cozy, designer home. Macramé—the art of knotting made popular in the seventies—is now on a revival, bringing trendy boho vibes into your living room, bedroom, and more. And there’s simply no better way to display your hanging plants than stringing them up in handmade woven knots.

Whether you’re a novice or seasoned knotter, Macramé Plant Hangers provides thirty quirky, yet stunning projects that will spark your DIY artist’s imagination and get you creating. Follow detailed photographs and instructions to construct patterns with various natural fibers, including cotton rope, felted wool, silk ribbon, jute, recycled fabric, and more. There are knotted projects suitable for bigger eight-inch pots, small four-inch pots, vintage bottles, and even air plants.

Including a practical beginner’s section of knot basics; an introduction to weaving; customizable variations to add playful beads, funky fringes, and chic rope tassels to your macramé design for “whimsy”; and a bonus chapter on special projects that mix macramé with a dash of weaving and earthy elements, Macramé Plant Hangers is your handy guidebook to adorning interiors with your own custom hand-knotted, vintage art you can be proud of—while keeping it green!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Skyhorse
• Release date: Jan 7, 2020
• ISBN: 9781510744424

Book preview

Copyright © 2020 by Chrysteen Borja

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Visit our website at www.skyhorsepublishing.com.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Jessica Lennard

Cover photo credit by Chrysteen Borja

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-4439-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-4442-4

Printed in China

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Getting Started

What Is Macramé?

Materials

Tools

Space

Fibers

Techniques and Tips

Knots

Basic Weaving Techniques

Embellishments

Tips on Following the Instructions

Projects

Plant Hangers on a Ring

Plant Hangers on a Dowel

Plant Hangers Done a Little Differently

Special Projects

Resources

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

I have been a maker for as long as I can remember. When I was younger, probably around five years old, I used to beg my mom to buy me cross-stitching patterns, books on how to draw, and calligraphy materials! Since then, I have been feeding my creative soul by teaching myself anything I can get my hands on. Learning something new is what lights me up.

I am currently a stay-at-home mother to my toddler son and we have two crazy dogs—and while I love it, sometimes I need to do something to relax after a long day of raising my little human and doggies. Being creative and learning new skills is what I always come back to. I am content with a long and difficult project as much as I am with one that is simple and quick.

I run a creative business, Waverly Knots, where I teach macramé and weaving workshops in Seatttle and its surrounding areas. In addition, I also create unique art supplies for artists, ranging from looms and wood shapes to naturally dyed ribbon. I love empowering others to create, which is why I came up with the projects in this book.

Here, I will teach basic techniques and mix them up with different ideas and materials to make each project unique. I have also included some non-traditional macramé pieces that use beautiful materials from nature. My hope for you is that these easy and creative projects will spark even more inspiration inside of you.

Have a lot of fun—I hope you love the projects in this book as much as I do!

—Chrysteen Borja

GETTING STARTED

What Is Macramé?

Macramé is a way of knotting to create textiles, patterns, and décor. It is similar to weaving and knitting, where fibers are woven together using certain techniques to make a product. Macramé has woven its way through history and cultures and is believed to have been around since the thirteenth century. Today, it has made a comeback and is back in trend—how amazing is that?

What I love about macramé is that you can learn a couple of knotting techniques quickly and then create an impressive wall hanging or plant hanger. When I started macramé four or five years ago, my mother, mother-in-law, and aunts all said, I did that in the seventies! It was exciting to share a creative art with them, as well as with everyone else who had done it in the past. I, too, am having fun passing on my creative process to my son—I don’t think he thinks very much of it now, but hopefully he will when he’s older.

While cotton rope, jute, hemp, and twine have always been common materials for macramé, what I hope to show you in this book is that you can use so many other materials to do macramé. I even use recycled fabrics from my closet! In addition, I will teach you a couple of simple weaving techniques to incorporate into your macramé project. There are so many possibilities, and I hope this book will open up your creativity without intimidation.

Materials

•Something to knot with, of course! We will talk about this in more detail in the fibers section ( page 5 ).

•Rings and hoops. Rings are a staple in most plant hanger styles. We will be using wood rings in a few projects.

•Driftwood or a dowel. Driftwood is a beautiful addition to macramé or any fiber art. You can also use copper, wood, or metal dowels.

•Beads, metal shapes, charms, flowers, and anything else you can think of to add to your pieces to make them unique.

Tools

•Scissors to cut fibers.

•Tape measure to measure the length of your fiber.

•Clothes rack to work off of.

•Large S-hooks to hang your piece from while you create.

•Tape to tape up the ends of your rope to keep it from fraying while you create.

Space

Here’s how to work on your piece. I like to work off of a clothes rack while sitting down. It is easier to see the pieces and keep the correct tension while working vertically. If you prefer to work off of a table, you can take a C-clamp, place your work within that clamp, and clamp it on the edge of the table while you work on the opposite side.

Fibers

This is one of my favorite parts of creating. I love picking out different fibers to make something with. You really can use anything to create macramé; don’t limit yourself!

Rope

One of the main elements of macramé today is cotton rope, which consists of three strands that are twisted together. Rope is great for a more modern look and can also be taken apart to create an amazing fringe. You can find different varieties of rope, like hemp, jute, and colored rope.

Single-Strand String

You will see a lot of pieces made with single-strand cotton string. It is similar to the rope, but it only consists of one strand. It is commonly referred to as just string. You can create a fray in single-strand string when you comb it out with a brush. Like rope, you can also find hemp and colored string.

Felted Wool

This is wool that is hand felted and dyed in beautiful batches. I love the thickness and the soft, squishy texture it gives. You will typically see this in sizes in around 10 mm, which is pretty chunky, and 5 mm.

Wool Roving

Roving is a bundle of fiber that is typically used