New tricks: Macramé

I am a bit of a craft buff, and have had a go at most things like cross stitch, sewing, knitting, and origami over the years.  Academically I was an average student and struggled with maths and spelling, but I always picked up handicrafts very quickly and love to make things with my hands.  To date I’ve made lampshades, throws, cushions, and curtains for the house, as well as numerous scarfs and cross stitch pictures for family and friends, but I was ready for a new challenge.

Macramé Macramé Everywhere!

These days you can’t move for macramé wall hangings, planters, cushions and screens on Instagram and Pinterest!  You can even buy macramé home wares from Primark, so you know its gone mainstream 🙂

Looking at the wall hangings on Instagram and Pinterest, I was curious to see how tricky they were to make and whether I could do it myself.  I started Googling local macramé courses, and found one as part of the Manchester Folk Festival last month.

So I signed up 🙂

It was a nice small class of only 6 people, and ideal number as our tutor Clare could walk around and give us one-to-one guidance if we were struggling

When starting any kind of new handicraft, there are countless videos and tutorials on YouTube and Google you can follow, but personally I find it easier to attend a workshop or class so I can see how to do it first hand and ask questions.

We had a couple of wall hanging examples to follow during the workshop, but once we got the hang of the basic knots we were free to create any pattern we wanted

The workshop ran for a couple of hours, and in that time we learn the three basic knots that form the majority of macramé patterns.  By the end of the session I had my very own wall hanging 🙂

For my first attempt, I was pretty pleased with the result

Now I’ve had my first taste of macramé, there’s no stopping me now!  I’ve bought a gorgeous macramé book by Fanny Zedenius (check out her Insta account @createaholic for more inspirational macramé ideas) and some natural 3mm cord to get me started, and I found a tutorial on YouTube for making a clutch bag…

…I can see everyone getting some form of macramé for Christmas this year 🙂