Macramé feather
Create beautiful macramé feathers for gifts or to decorate your home this Christmas with our easy step by step guide.
You’ll be amazed how simple these are to make, even if you’ve never made anything with macramé before. They look great as tree decorations and make lovely gifts, too; perfect as a keyring or a fun home decoration, whatever the season.
You Will Need
- 5mm macramé cord (3m will make one 15cm-long feather)
- scissors
- Pet-grooming brush or comb
Step 1
Decide the size you want to make your feather – a large wall hanging, mini keyring or a festive decoration. Work out your cord length; the feathers in the image to the right are around 15cm long, which require 3m of cord each. Once you’ve chosen the size, cut the cord to double that length – 30cm if your feather will be 15cm long – then fold it in half and tie a loop knot at one end.
Step 2
Cut 18 more lengths of cord at your desired length, in this case 15cm long. You can now begin to secure each length down the main piece of cord using a lark’s head knot (above and below); this is one of the simplest macramé knots and is a great
way to get started.
Step 3
To make the lark’s head knot, fold each 15cm cord in half and place it under your main length at a right angle, then pull both ends back through the loop at the top to create your knot; pull tightly. Repeat this process, alternating sides, so you’re working towards the bottom of the length.
Step 4
Once you’ve knotted all the lengths of cord and created your shape, check all your knots face the same way up and look nice and tight.
Step 5
Use a pet brush or comb to brush through your feather, separating the macrame cord into smaller strands. A pet grooming brush works brilliantly for this.
Step 6
Once the strands are separated, brush the cord to create the feather effect. You can then cut the edges of the cord to smooth and shape them.
