How to read a Brazilian bracelet pattern?

How to make a straight brazilian bracelet ?

There are several ways to make a Brazilian bracelet or friendship bracelet. You can try making one without a pattern by using a simple repeating pattern and alternating colors. These are very well-known patterns, such as herringbone Brazilian bracelets or fishtail Brazilian bracelets. These patterns are very easy, and we recommend starting with them. Here is a list of how-to guides to help you master the basics of making Brazilian bracelets:

• Learn how to tie a Brazilian bracelet knot
• Set of three Brazilian bracelets: classic, chevron, and herringbone
• Which thread should you choose for Brazilian bracelets?

To learn how to make Brazilian friendship bracelets, you can follow tutorials that show you, step by step, the order in which to tie the strings, such as this video on making a diamond- or rhombus-patterned friendship bracelet. Alternatively, you can buy a book with Brazilian bracelet patterns or find free diagrams online. For example, there are some on the Friendship-bracelets website. This site also offers a mini online program that lets you create your own patterns.

In the latter case, the braided bracelets are presented as diagrams or charts. In this video tutorial, we’ll show you how to read these patterns. It’s not very complicated, but you need to stay focused on the diagram and your bracelet. You can help yourself keep track of your weaving by marking the knots you’ve already made with a pencil.

How do you read a diagram?

• A friendship bracelet pattern using threads looks like the one below. The colored lines represent the threads, and the circles represent the knots. As you can see in the diagram, there are a total of 4 light blue threads, 2 white threads, and 2 dark blue threads. The best way to keep track is to use a micro-macramé tray, as shown in the video. This makes it easy to arrange the threads in the correct order.
• The diagram is read from left to right and from top to bottom. First, you make the top row of knots, then move on to the row below, starting from the left again. The arrows indicate the direction of the knots.
• An arrow pointing from left to right means you should make a double front knot with the strand onthe left. This strand will go over the strand onthe right, forming a loop on its left, then go under the strand on the right and come back out through the loop. You must make this knot twice.
• An arrow pointing from right to left means you should tie a double reverse knot using the thread onthe right. This thread will go over the left thread, forming a loop on its right, then go under the left thread and come out through the loop. You must tie this knot twice.
• An arrow pointing from left to right, then from right to left, means you should tie a front knot, then a back knot with the thread onthe left. This thread goes over the right thread, forming a loop on its left, then goes under the right thread to come out through the loop. The second knot is tied in the opposite direction but with the same thread.
• An arrow pointing from right to left and then from left to right means you should tie a reverse knot and then a regular knot using the thread onthe right. This thread will go over the left thread, forming a loop on its right, then go under the left thread to come out through the loop. The second knot is tied in the opposite direction but using the same string.

To help you make your friendship bracelet, download and print the diagram below so you can follow along step by step with the video. Find more instructions in our tutorial for the blue Brazilian bracelet with a diamond pattern.

To Take It Further

Once you’ve mastered reading the pattern chart, you can mix things up: our trio of classic, chevron, and herringbone techniques is perfect for practice, while the video tutorial for the 4-color diamond-pattern bracelet will show you how to apply these patterns in real life. Want an even more original look? Add beads to your weaving with our tutorial on chevron bracelets with beads, or choose directly from our selection of Brazilian bracelet threads and ready-to-use kits to get started right away.