Macrame Bracelets and Necklaces Made Easy

The bracelet is finished and every knot is tight, but it will not go over your hand. Or it slips right off the wrist, because the cord was cut long before anyone measured anything.

Most knotted jewelry goes wrong before the first knot. The cord is cut by eye, a bead turns out to have a hole too narrow for two strands, and a choker runs out of cord two inches short of the clasp, though the knots themselves were fine. What failed was the arithmetic at the spool, the part most patterns skip and no amount of careful knotting can repair afterward.

Twenty-Four Patterns on Three Ties

• Sliding-closure and clasp bracelets in square knots, from a slim 1.0 mm band that opens to a 9 in loop to a chunky 2.0 mm cuff on a larger clasp
• Spiral bracelets and cuffs, including a twist that reverses partway along and a double-wrap bracelet worked as 96 half knots on one long cord
• Fringe bracelets in two colors, one strung with 8 mm glass beads that hang from doubled strands at two staggered heights on a sliding closure
• Beaded bracelets that mix knots, from one 6 mm center bead to a bracelet that combines all three ties on one cord
• Three chokers cut to the neck: a 16 in square knot choker, an adjustable spiral choker that opens to 26 in, and a five-bead choker on a clasp
• Pendants and necklaces: a stone pendant hung from a spiral cord that slides to fit, and seven beads spaced along a 20 in matinee strand on a clasp
• Square knot, spiral twist, and tassel earrings for the lobe, each written as a matched pair, from a 1 in knotted run to a 3 in tassel

• Cord length tables for sliding and clasp bracelets, chokers, and necklaces, with the 4-to-1 working cord rule explained and checked
• A ten-knot test strip that measures your own gauge, so each table scales to your particular cord, your tension, and your hands
• Bead placement rules: hole size by number of cords, then knot counts between beads for layouts that read the same from both ends
• Measuring steps for wrist, hand, neck, and head, drawn from published body data, with fit tables and standard necklace lengths
• Materials and tools guidance, from waxed polyester cord and gemstones with holes wide enough for two cords to nickel-free ear wires