Hydrangea

This five wrap bracelet was made to fit Drea’s small wrist, but the design is easily adjustable to fit anyone! Simply ladder or macramé for longer, add an extra leaf design or more macramé knots between your leaves…anything goes!

The first and third wraps may be the most difficult as you are tapering your laddering in an unusual way. Drea tapered from one 8/0 seed bead up to five, then her next row went back down to four beads, then the leather was brought back together with macramé to create the leaf shape. Check your tension to ensure your final rows of 5 and 4 beads don’t pop out when you bring your leaves back together. Each leaf was done in alternating colors of C-Lon in Green and Peridot. You could easily pick out which colors of the Evergreen Seed Bead Mix you’d like to use, or just pick at random as is done in the sample. You could do each leaf in a solid color or an ombré effect…the choice is yours! If you're having difficulty stringing the 8/0s on the C-Lon, make self-needles with a dab of glue on your C-Lon ends to stiffen them.

The second wrap uses Peridot C-Lon to macramé a design with 6/0, 8/0, and 3mm Czech Fire Polish. Small petal shapes are created by stringing on three beads at a time, in this pattern: 8/0 - 3mm FP - 8/0. The smaller beads on the ends helps this design element pop out and create some shape. This section alternates designs, between each patterned trio is a single 6/0. Two complete macramé knots are tied between each section of beads.

The third wrap uses Infinity Stitch and KO Thread with 8/0s, 3mm Czech Melons *(no longer available, and replaced in ingredients with 3mm Fire Polish in Bronze Rose Illusion), and 4mm Czech Fire Polish. Drea much prefers Infinity Stitch to Traditional Laddering, but you could certainly traditional ladder in this section if it’s what suits you best.

The fourth wrap was very fun. String your 6/0 beads directly onto the leather, then slide them up one at a time, alternating sides, and tying half a macramé knot around each one. It has a cute effect! There’s a section of beaded bollywood-style macramé in the center of this wrap using more of the 3mm Czech Fire Polish.
The fifth and final wrap is back to the leaves, but in reverse…start with four beads, pulling your leather apart to accommodate the width…then taper up to five beads, then taper down with rows of four, three, two, and one bead. The first wrap has five leaves, but this final wrap uses one less leaf design to accommodate for the buttonhole length. The buttonhole is secured with a silk wrap, then two dangling briolettes are added with wire-wraps, and finally the leather is knotted in an overhand knot to finish.

This was a really fun wrap to make! Thanks to all who helped design it, it never would have been accomplished without you!