Making Alphabet & Picture Friendship Bracelets: Over 200 Designs from Cats and Dogs to Hearts and Holidays, and Instructions for Personalizing

By Suzanne McNeill

Breathe new life into the timeless craft of friendship bracelets with over 200 customizable designs! Learn how to make personalized crafts for your friends by adding names, inspiring words, special messages, pictures, shapes, symbols, and other meaningful images and sentiments that will give your bracelet making one-of-a-kind style! Featuring al

• Language: English
• Publisher: Design Originals
• Release date: Feb 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781637410813

Suzanne McNeill

Suzanne McNeill is the author of 230 craft & hobby books and 15 Zentangle books, Suzanne McNeill has been called "the Trendsetter" for arts and crafts. Dedicated to hands-on creativity, she constantly tests, experiments, and invents something new and exciting. Suzanne is the woman behind Design Originals, a publishing company dedicated to all things fun and creative. Winner of the Craft and Hobby Association's Industry Achievement Award, she is a designer, artist, columnist, TV personality, publisher, art instructor, author, and lover of everything hands-on.   

Book preview

Introduction

Friendship bracelets are everywhere. You may have noticed them at markets, summer camps, fairs, or festivals. Maybe even a special friend has made one just for you, or you for them. Most are made with colorful geometric designs, but did you know that you could add names, words, and even short phrases to your bracelets? Picture bracelets are slightly more advanced, as you will need to follow a graph to create each image, but the basic knotting is the same, and once you master the technique, you’ll find yourself customizing bracelets for friends and family, or sharing them at school, at church, in clubs, at camp, or with fellow teammates.

With colorful strands and patience, you can create a bracelet with your own name or make customized gifts for family and friends. Your creations will impress everyone who sees them. In this innovative book, you will find new ways to make colorful bracelets, using special techniques with basic knots and versatile designs.

Happy knotting!

IllustrationIllustration

Did You Know?

Friendship bracelets are supposed to be worn by friends every day and every night, no matter what, until they fall off. When tying the knots around each other’s wrists, friends should share their wishes and dreams for the future with one another.

Friendship Bracelet Basics

Parts of a Bracelet

Illustration

Basic Supplies

Materials

Floss in assorted colors (6-ply embroidery floss, pearl [perle] cotton size 5, or craft strands, such as those by DMC®, Anchor®, or Prism®)

Tools

•Tape (masking, duct, packing, or quilter’s)

•Safety pin

•Scissors

•Hard knotting surface (any flat, sturdy surface you can apply tape to, such as a clipboard or knotting board)

•Soft knotting surface (a pillow, jeans pant leg, etc.)

Optional Supplies

•Needle with a large eye (size #20 tapestry needle works best), for troubleshooting

•Anti-fraying solution (like June Tailor® Fray Block™), for gluing the ends of the strands

•Clothespin with spring or bodkin, for keeping the knotting strand untangled

Reading Charts

The thing that makes picture bracelets different from other friendship bracelets is the charts used to knot the designs. It might sound tricky at first, but once you’ve knotted your first motif, each new picture or letter after that gets easier.

•Each square represents two knots on the background strands of floss.

•Work the first row from left to right and the second row from right to left. Continue this pattern for the rest of the bracelet (see chart above).

•When the color changes on the chart, you switch to using the background strand of floss to make the knots. More on how