You need to check out my tutorial for making an easy DIY macrame rainbow! If you haven't already introduced yourself to the world of macrame, it's the perfect beginner project. These cute rainbows would also be great for kids and teenagers to make. Plus they'd make for a fun activity for occasions such as Birthday parties, camp or girl's sleepovers.
I'm so excited for this project, I can't believe it's taken me so long to get around to bringing you a macrame project! I would love to try out some more macrame projects for you. I'm thinking of an essential oil diffuser, key chain and of course something more traditional. Such as wall hangings and planter hangings.
Do you find that some crafts really resonate with you? Crafts in general are a wonderful way to find mindful moments or as a way to get in some self-care time. But macrame in particular really relaxes me which makes me so much more inspired to create more!
Let's get into making this sweet DIY macrame rainbow.
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Table of Contents
Supplies
- Natural macrame cord 8mm* (I used 4mm)
- Yarn in 3 colours (I used light pink, hot pink + purple)
- Wooden bead
- Hot glue gun
- Needle (optional)
- Ruler
- Scissors
*Ideally, I would have liked to use a thicker 8mm macrame cord for this project, however, I only had 4 mm in the craft cupboard. Rather than buying more, I decided to use what I had. You can too, just adjust the amount of strands that you cut. If you are using 8mm, you may only want to use two strands.
Making an Easy DIY Macrame Rainbow
Step 1: Cutting your rainbow arc foundation strands
First things first, we need to cut the natural macrame cord in three different lengths. As I mentioned above in the supplies section, I didn't have the thickness that I wanted which impacted the next step. If you don't have the thickness you want, you can do the same. Simply adjust the number of strands that you cut. If you are using 8mm, as I suggested in the supplies list, I would cut two stands in each length.
To hopefully avoid confusion when explaining this, the following is what I cut for 4mm cord:
- Cut three strands of natural macrame cord, each measuring 15cm / 6in
- Next cut three strands of natural macrame cord, each measuring 18cm / 7in
- Lastly, cut three strands of natural macrame cord, each measuring 21cm / 8in
Now if you're working out my conversions between metric and imperial, they're not quite exact. But it's easier to work in simple measurements like this. You can of course just use these as a guide and choose your own length.
Step 2: Wrapping the coloured yarn
We will work from the smallest size of natural strands that we cut above (15cm/6in). Pull apart the thread from each strand (image 1 below). Now bunch of them all together so that we can begin to make the first arc of our DIY macrame rainbow (image 2 below).
Begin by tying the end of your first yarn colour to your bunched natural macrame cord. At the beginning, leave approximately 2cm / .75in of the natural cord exposed (image 3 below). You will start wrapping from this point. When tying your knot, be sure to leave a small tail on the end of the coloured yarn (image 4 below).
Now, holding the tail down to hide it, begin wrapping around the natural cord (image 5 below). As you wrap, ensure it is moderately tight. Every few wraps, you may need to push it a little bit further so that your yarn is nice and close together. The reason I say moderately tight is that as we get to the end, we are going to have to use a needle to hide the end of the yarn. I do however have another option for you if you don’t have a needle big enough to thread the yarn through.
Step 3: How to finish the yarn wrapping
When you get to the end, again leave approximately 2cm / .75in. Now tie off your yarn with a knot (image 6 above). Before cutting your yarn, leave some length so that you can thread through a needle. Thread the tail beneath at least half a dozen loops of yarn, then cut the remaining tail so that it disappears.
When you do this, keep in mind, the position on where you want to attach each rainbow arc together. You can wiggle the yarn a little into place. It’s not super important, but doing this will make it a little neater if you glue the arcs in place to hide this section. I attached mine where I finished off the knot. It wouldn't have been too obvious if I didn't glue it in this place so no stress if it doesn't work that way for you.
As I mentioned you can use another method when finishing off that doesn’t include a needle. Simply tie off leaving a small tail. When we come to attach the arcs together, we will glue this section of the arc. You won’t see the tail once it’s glued. If there is any extra tail, this can be trimmed.
You have now made the first arc of your rainbow! Now all that is needed is to complete the same process for the other two arcs.
Step 4: Continue your DIY macrame rainbow
Once you have all three arcs completed, we need to create the loop so that you can hang your DIY macrame rainbow decoration. Cut a piece of yarn, the same colour as your largest arc. Loop and secure this to the top part of the large arc. Thread a bead through and then tie it off at the end.
Step 5: Bringing it all together
You now have your rainbow ready to assemble! Using a hot glue gun, run glue along the edge of the smallest arc. If you want to, you can choose to run the glue along the sizes where you finished your coloured yarn. When attaching it to the second one, hold it into a curve to give it that arc shape. Lastly, run glue along the second arc to adhere your third and final rainbow arc. Be sure to watch that the hanging loop and bead stay in the middle.
An easy DIY macrame rainbow
That's it! All there is to it. If you used a wooden bead you could also add a few drops of essential oil to it and turn your rainbow into a hanging diffuser. Great for the car or hanging from bedroom drawers and such.
I love this as a beginner project since you're not required to invest a lot of time in new tools and supplies. You may even have them all in your craft stash already! It's also easy enough to swap out the yarns for different threads, ribbons and twines.
What macrame projects would you like to see? Comment below to let me know!
Other resources you may like:
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FREEBIE: Printable Kindness Cards Paper Craft
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ARTICLE: How to Make a Dried Flower Wreath with Twine
