Guys, macrame is coming in hot this season. Maybe not as hot as Joey's imaginary music duo "Macrame and Ryan Lewis," as mentioned in OMG We're Coming Over: Shameless Maya, but still — if there was a time to board the trend train, this would be it!
A lot of macrame projects come pre-made, or if you can DIY them, they are predominated rope-based. When I was making over Maya's loft, I wanted the patterned, netted effect of macrame, but I wanted something a little more glamorous, a little more modern. So, I did what I do best and DIY-ed it ... with some built in sparkle!
Check out the steps below, and make sure to see these DIY Macrame Curtains in action in OMG We're Coming Over!
Prep It:
Gold fringe/string curtain White or off-white cotton fabric Wood beads (in light, medium, and dark finishes) Scissors Hot glue gun and glue sticks Large needle or pointy instrument - optional
Do It!:
- Make sure your piece of fabric is about the same height and width as the fringe curtain. This DIY will look best if everything matches up!
- Use your scissors to make little snips across the bottom of your piece of fabric, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Put in some muscle power and tear these snips up into long strips! Make sure not to tear all the way through the top, though — leave a good 1 1/2 - 2 inches across the top of your linen.
- Once you're done tearing it up (in every sense of the term), lay the now fring-y fabric over the fringe curtain on a flat surface, lining the tops of the two pieces up. Now plug in your hot glue gun and let's get sticky!! You want to glue the solid top strip of fabric to the top of the fringe curtain so they hang as one.
- Once your glue has dried, hang your curtain up (either temporarily with clothes pins, or permanently where you'll want it to stay). Use the wooden beads to create a macrame-like pattern out of both the string and fabric pieces. The trick to this step is to thread two pieces of fabric and some strands of glitter string through each bead — you might need a thick needle, or some other tool to help push the fabric through! If you aren't sure what kind of a pattern you want to create, check out this Chain Water Bottle Holder tutorial that has a similar diamond pattern! A good rule is to go in rows horizontally across the curtain so you can create a cohesive lattice going down the length. Your second row of beads will end up in the spaces between your first row, etc.
- If the curtains weren't yet hung up in their intended space, get them up there using small nails. Bonus: braid some twine or extra strips of fabric to finish off the fabric edge at the top after you've hung your curtain - as you can see as I did in the video. Then sit back and enjoy your new macrame masterpiece!
