On a scale of one to Minkus, how much of a loser am I for making a friendship bracelet for…myself?
Whatever. I think I more than just made up for it by making a Boy Meets World reference.
This DIY jewelry project is an edgier spin to the traditional friendship bracelets many of us made as pre-teens. Don’t recall how to weave these wrist decorations from your younger days? Well that’s why I’m here.
- Embroidery floss (colors of your choice; I picked four, but you can use more for a wider bracelet)
- Cone studs (I used small silver English punk cone studs from StudsAndSpikes.com)
- A toggle clasp (or any bracelet fastener you’d like)
- Tape and scissors
1. Cut two strands of each color, roughly 24 inches long. Knot together, leaving a few inches of excess. Tape to a table or your thigh (seriously, I do this when my back starts hurting from leaning over the table). Arrange the colors so that they mirror each other. As an example, mine went black, dark gray, light gray, white, white, light gray, dark gray, black.
2. Start on the outer left side. Make a 4 shape with the outermost thread (black) and the one next to it (dark gray). Loop through in a knot and slide the black thread upwards, pulling the knot taught around the dark gray thread. Repeat, tying the same knot with the black thread around the light gray strand. And again around the white strand. Repeat with the black strand on the right, making a backwards 4 shape and knotting on the strands, one at a time.
3. Both black strands should now be on the inside. Knot them together to secure both sides of the chevron pattern together. The dark gray (or whatever your second most outer color is) will now repeat the pattern. Knot it around each strand, working inwards, and tie together when both are at the center. Repeat with the light gray. Then the white. Then continue to repeat until your eyes start bleeding and you have no sense of what time it is and realize you’ve just watched an entire season of LOST in one pathetic sitting…don’t judge me.
4. When the bracelet is long enough to wrap around your wrist, end it with a knot. Back in the day, I would just tie the ends together and wear the bracelet day and night until it was so ratty and faded that it kind of just fell off. Now, I like to add a clasp so that I can take it off whenever I like. Braid the loose strands through the clasp and secure with a knot.
5. Cut the excess embroidery floss and secure the knot with a dab of hot glue.
6. Now is the fun part. Push studs through the bracelet, leaving a little less than an inch between cones. Fold down the teeth of the studs with pliers until they lay flat.
Studs and spikes are in, you so don’t have to feel like an emo or Harley Davidson diehard to rock your new studded chevron friendship bracelet. Layer it with other bracelets or wear alone.