DIY Gift Ideas #4: Bordered Heart Bracelet | Lifeasapetite

Boo!

I hope you've all had a fantastic weekend :) I haven't posted or done anything DIY/Crafty for a very long time, so as I have a little time until my next exam I thought I'd share with you all long overdue DIY tutorial on how to make the Bordered Heart Bracelet. 

There are so many tutorials online on how to make the plain basic heart tutorial, like the yellow and white one shown above, but I've never been able to find a tutorial for the bordered version. I'm pretty sure there is one out there but I just haven't been able to find it. So I thought I'd do a tutorial of my own ;p 

I hope these photos are comprehensible/easy to follow. If not do let me know and I'll try to explain it again :) I'm extremely sorry if this is too easy but I know when I follow tutorials I sometimes struggle to understand how to get from A to B, so hopefully these steps will be helpful!

Anyway I hope you enjoy this tutorial:) What are your favourite DIY/crafty things to make?

Have a great week everyone! Take care and speak soon! 

☺

You can also find me on:

       

Possible Tools:

• Embroidery floss (or equivalent)

• Ruler with inches

• Scissors

• Buttons

• Clipboard/Sellotape/Heavy Item 

(I have some links at the bottom of this tutorial 

if you're looking for buttons/embroidery floss)

Measurements I used:

• Ten 30 Inch Strands or

Five 60 Inch Strands

***

Tutorial

Select the colours you want. Here I have chosen 3 separate colours: dark pink (variegated floss) as the border, light pink for the actual heart shape, and the white for the background. 

1) Cut the embroidery floss to the required length and tie a loop. How much of a loop you leave is a personal preference. Here I leave such a big one because I want to make an adjustable knot. For a tutorial please click HERE. If you want to use a button, make sure the loop is large enough for the button of your choice to fit through.

2) Clip/sellotape down the loop to the table etc to secure the strands in place.
Separate out the strands - note that it is a mirror image.
hot pink, white, pink, white, pink || pink, white, pink, white, hot pink

3) To create the border of the heart bracelet we will make a alternate/forward-backward/backward-forward knot.
As we are starting from the left side (you can choose whichever side to start from), we use the FORWARD BACKWARD knot.
The first part of the alternate knot is the first half of a forward knot: create a '4-shape' as shown below.
I am using the hot pink to knot over the white because I want don't want to start straight into the heart, but to have a little bit of white background first.

4) Once you've completed the first half of the FORWARD BACKWARD knot (i.e. the 1st part of a forward knot), pull up tight towards the knotted loop.

5) Then complete the first half of a backward knot. This time the '4-shape' is backwards.

6) Again pull up towards the knotted loop.

7) Once you've pulled up tight you have finished the forward-backward knot.

8) Now we start to create the background of the bracelet, here I am using white as my background.
We first need to create a FULL 2-part FORWARD knot. The forward knot basically consists of TWO '4-shapes'.
This photo shows the first half of the forward knot.

9) Pull up towards the loop - you have completed the first half of the forward knot.

10) Then make another '4-shape' like so:

11) Pull up again and now you have finished the complete two part of a forward knot:

12) Continue with that white strand and carry on with forward knots until you get to the middle.
Excluding the hot pink forward-backward knot, you should have completed three forward knots altogether (3 little arrows) and you are left with the white strand in the middle (shown below by the big blue arrow):

13) And then we repeat steps 3-12 but on the other side.
So this time make a backwards-forwards knot: backward knot first:

14) Then a forward knot:

15) After completing the backward-forward knot, take the white strand again and this time make a FULL 2-part BACKWARD knot. Here's the first part of the backward knot (backward '4-shape'):

16) Pull up towards to knotted loop at the top, and then make another backwards '4-shape'.  You'll have made a complete 2-part backward knot.

17) After finishing that backward knot, continue to make 2 further backward knots until you reach the centre with two white strands left in the middle:

18) Now create a FULL 2-part BACKWARD knot - here's the first part:

19) Then complete the second part of the backward knot, pull tight, and you should end up with this:

20) Now you have finished the first row of the background, and it is now time to start making the light pink heart.
First you have to continue to make the border. So same as steps 3-7 create a FORWARD-BACKWARD knot. Note that you are creating the forward-backward knot on the LIGHT PINK strand (rather than the white as seen in steps 3-7):

22) Now take the white strand and create a COMPLETE 2-part BACKWARD knot on the light pink:

23) Pull tight and it should look like this with the light pink on the right hand side of the white you just knotted:

24) To start making the heart shape, use the first light pink and make  a 2-PART FORWARD knot with the second light pink strand:

25) Then do the same on the second white strand:

26) You should end up with the light pink in the middle (white, light pink, white, light pink) like so:

27) Now to do exactly the same on the other side: create the border by completing a BACKWARD-FORWARD KNOT with the hot pink. Here's the first part of the backward-forward knot (backward 4-shape):

28) Here's the second part of the BACKWARD FORWARD KNOT (forward '4shape'):

29) Then using the white strand, make a FULL 2-part FOWARD KNOT (forward 4shape) on the light pink:

30) You should get something like this:

31) Using that light pink strand, create a FULL 2-part BACKWARDS KNOT on the second light pink:

32) Then do the same with the second white strand until the light pink ends up in the middle like so:

33) Then repeating steps 19-20, create a FULL 2-part BACKWARD KNOT with the two light pinks:

34) The first part of the heart shape is now taking place:

35) Make the same FORWARD-BACKWARD knot border as above.
Then taking the first light pink, create a FULL 2-part BACKWARD knot on the white strand:

36) Taking the same white strand, create a FULL 2-part FORWARD knot on the second white strand:

37) Make another FULL 2-part FORWARD knot until the white strand is back in the middle:

38) Do the same on the other side. So create the border by making a BACKWARD-FORWARD knot. Then use the light pink to make a FULL 2-part FORWARD knot on the white strand:

39) Using that same white strand, create a FULL 2-part BACKWARD knot on the second white strand:

40) Do so until you have two white strands in the middle. Complete the same steps as 19-20 and make a FULL 2-part BACKWARD KNOT:

41) To finish the heart shape, again complete the border with a FORWARD-BACKWARD knot.
Then using the first light pink, make a FULL 2-part FOWARD KNOT on the white strand:

42) Carry on a do another FULL 2-part FORWARD knot on the second light pink strand:

43) And again on the second white strand until the light pink is back in the middle:

44) Now taking the other side to complete the heart shape. Again make the border by using the BACKWARD-FORWARD knot.
Then taking the first light pink, make a FULL 2-part BACKWARD knot on the white strand, then second light pink, and second white strand until the light pink is back in the middle:

47) Again repeat steps 19-20 by creating a FULL 2-part BACKWARD KNOT using the two light pink strands:

48) And now you have completed your first heart!

49) To continue, make a row of white strands i.e. repeat steps3-19:

51) Now you can start again and make a second heart by repeating steps 20-48

52) Make as many hearts until desired length is reached:

53) Then tie a knot:

54) This is optional, but I personally made two plaits at each end, to make an adjustable knot: HERE

If you wanted to make a plain non-bordered heart bracelet, just use the same technique, but without the forward-backward knots at the beginning, and have only EIGHT strands rather than ten. 

Yellow: simple plait & knot
Pink: adjustable knot
Purple: Button

These came in a pack of 25 for £0.93! :)

I actually bought the embroidery floss while I was in Hong Kong a while ago for HKD$20 for ten 8 metre strands. But I ordered some more plain block coloured embroidery floss here:

Heart Buttons: Amazon // Here

Block Embroidery Floss: Amazon // Here

If any of you wanted a variegated border too, here are some Variegated Embroidery Floss I found on Amazon as well: Here

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