Pink Perfection: Learning Macrame, Creating a Macrame Plant Hanger,...

A couple of years ago, I had been admiring decorative items made of knots, but I never had a chance to learn how to make them. Last night, I thought I would give it a try. The crafting technique is called macrame.

I learned a few basic macrame knots, and unknowingly, I had used a couple of knot techniques that I had made up myself; now I know what they are called.

After learning the knots, I decided to make a little project for my stressed plant—a plant hanger.

This plant is called a chain of hearts. It has beautiful heart-shaped leaves with a pink hue, and it is supposed to hang, but it was all coiled up since I had no hanger.

I have a cord ideal for macrame, and I thought the dusky pink colour would suit the plant.

Once you know the knots, you can design your project.

I first cut 8 lengths of cord, each about 2 meters long, and then I folded them to make 16 cords in total.

As I had no ring, I braided the top.
I gathered knots to secure them.

I separated the cords into four groups; in each group, the two cords will be a filler cord, and the other two will be the working cord.

Since I wasn’t prepared to hang my cord, I found it very efficient and fast to put tension on both ends, keeping my working cord free and the filler cord stationary. This made me work faster and with less fuss.

I made 10 square knots in each group.

Then, another square knot, but I left spaces for some style.

The half-square knots created a spiral look.

I took 2 cords from one group and 2 cords from the adjacent group to tie a square knot, and did the same on the next row. This was to secure the plant pot.

I gathered all the cords and made gathering knots.

I trimmed the ends and frayed them using a hairbrush.

I found the project very entertaining and relaxing. The big cord was satisfying to work with, as I could get a good grip on it. Plus, the result was very visible.