Learn how to make your own beautiful Macrame crossbody bag

1. Intro: Hi, I'm Megan and I'm self-taught. macrame artist. I'm also the owner and creator of my own little business Luna Crafts online. In this class, we'll be learning how to make this exact macrame bag. I created my small business, Luna Crafts online back in December 2018. Since then I fallen more and more in love with macrame and fiber arts and the process of creating bespoke wall hangings. I find creating something with my hands very therapeutic and relaxing. I'd love to now be able to teach other people about this craft and hopefully inspire others to be creative. My hope is that my lessons will teach you some basic knots and patterns so that you'll be able to create your own wall hangings, plant hangers. and even macrame bags. Not only for yourself, but for friends and family as they make really amazing gifts. Some of my other hobbies include yoga, running, baking, and house plants. I have probably about 60 house plants, so I have a lot of different macrame plant hanger tutorials to share with you. I really hope you learn some techniques from me so you're able to create your own unique, beautiful hangings. 2. Materials & supplies: So in this section, let's talk a little bit about the materials and supplies you'll need to make your bag. So here, I really love this cord. It's a 3ply three millimeter macrame cord. And I just find it this one is a lot more stable than using a single twist. As you can see, it's made up of 3 twisted cords together. And it makes it very durable and long lasting, much more so than the next cord I'm about to show you. So this is a single twist cord, which means it's just loads of fibers of cords twisted together, they're not in groups of four that then twisted. You can see here as I unravel it. So this one doesn't have a lot of strength or durability. So I wouldn't recommend using this type. I would either go with the 3ply macrame cord or the 4ply cord like I showed you. at the start. So today I'm actually going to go with the 4ply cord which is on the right. And you will also need 2 lobster clasps. These are sort of antique bronze. I really like the way they look against the white cord. These measure just about two centimeters wide by about 3.5 centimeters tall. I find that they're the perfect. Then you will also need some scissors. These are really good ones. They're very old and a bit rusty, but they're still extremely sharp. And I also recommend a comb and some sort of wire brush. This is a pet brush but I bought it specifically for my macrame, it does a really great job of splitting all the fibers apart. 3. Measuring & cutting the cords: So now that we have all our supplies, we can go ahead and cut all the materials. So you would need one lot that measures 140 centimeters. But here I'm just measuring 70 centimeters on my tape measure. And then I'll fold that in half and just cut it at the other end. So it's one long length. Now you can just put this out the way for now whilst we work on cutting all of the other cords. And now to create the main part of the bag, you'll need 22 lots of 330 centimeter cord. So here I'm just splitting mine in half of measuring a 165 centimetre and then cut and it just at the one end. So in total it measures 330 centimeters. So you can go ahead and create 22 limits of these. And we'll come back to cut the straps. Now that we have the one lot of 140cm and the 22, lots of 338cm, we can go ahead and cut the cord for the straps. So for that you will need 2 lots of 740cm. So it's a lot of cord, but it will make sense once we start making the straps as we'll use a lot of it up. Again, I'm just spitting the 740cm in half and then measuring that to create the straps. And lastly, it's very easy this one, you just need to cut seven lots of 25cm. So these will create the tassel and three of them will be for gathering/wrapping knots. And we'll get to that once we have finished the main part of the bag. Now that everything is cut and ready to go, we can start creating the bag. 4. Larks head knots & square knots: So now you need to find somewhere to hang up the 140 centimeter length of cord. So I started hanging it on these hoops. And then you will later see in the video I actually moved it to hang on the bars of the shelf because the hoops kept just closing in and it was very difficult. So if you can find somewhere to hang up, I sometimes use the back of a chair as well. That works very well. And just tie it up so you have roughly an equal amount of court on either side. Now we can go ahead and attach all the 22 cords with a larks. head knot, so split the cord and half and grab the hoop, the middle point, and put it behind that first initial cord. And then you're gonna take those two ends of the cord and go through that loop that you've created. And then you can just pull that tight so snug against the a 140cm cord. Now we just need to repeat this with all the other 21 cords using the larks head knot to attach them all. So the main body of this back is actually made up of rows of square knots. So here, we will be creating our first square knot. So I take two cords and then you'll take the right cord so the fourth cord and place it over the two middle cords like this. And then that first cord on the left will go over that cord behind the two middle ones. And then through the loop left by the fourth cord right there. And then just pull that tight to the top of your work. And that is one half of your knot. So to make the other half. You're going to do the same, just starting on the left. So the first cord goes over the middle two the fourth will go over that one behind the middle 2 and through that loop there. And now you can just pull this tight to the top. And that is one whole square knot. So you just need to repeat this going across the whole length of your work using 2 cords so there's always 4 cords in total. Okay. Now that the first row is completely done, we can go ahead and start on the second row. So for the second row, you need to take out those two end cords. We won't be using them for this row. And then take the four cords that should be two from each of the first square knots there and create another square knot. So this is what you would call an alternating row of square knots. So for the third row, you would include the two that you have left out on this row. So at the end of this row, you also need to leave out the last two as you won't, be able to create a square knot with them. And so the second row is complete. So we include the first two again on this row just like the first row and then complete another row. So in total you will need 37 rows altogether, making sure to alternate the rows as you go. So I recommend just putting on a film or something and just relaxing as you do this, it's very therapeutic, but your shoulders may start to ache after a while. So don't forget to take breaks. So now we will be creating the triangle design that would be the flap of the back. So in order to do that, we're just going to leave out the 2 last cords from both sides and complete one row of square knots going across. Now the first row is done, we're going to leave out the next two cords and compete one row. So you're gonna be leaving out the two cords from either side on every row. You will be doing one less square knot for every row, and therefore it will be forming this big triangle shape. And you should just end up with one square knot at the end. So as you can see we're, just getting to the last square knot, which will form the point of the triangle. 5. Double clove hitch knot: Now we have finished with all of the square knots. We are going to be creating some double clove hitch knots. So in order to do that, take the first cord on the left, and you're going to hold it at a diagonal point just following the line of your knots. And then take the second cord. And you're gonna bring it up and over the first cord, the holding cord in your hand, like so. And then it's going to come around the back of that cord. And through that loop there, just like this. And then you can pull that tight and repeat that once more with the same cords. So up, over that cord and through the loop, and then pull that tight against that cord. So that is a double clove hitch knot. And then you just repeat that with the second cord, So up and over and through the loop. And then repeat once more on that cord. So you can just repeat this going the whole line, making sure that you're following the line of the square knots. And then once you get to the end, you just want to create one double clove hitch, using the middle of the last square knot, like this. But you can see there's one there from the middle of the square knot. And then that's one row finished. And now we can just do the exact same on the other side. So we take the first cord and hold it diagonal. And the second cord will go up over that cord, and then through that loop. And then repeat once more on the same cord. So this is a very easy know to get the hang off. And you can do a lot things with this, which I will be showing you in some future classes. So repeat this going all the way until you meet the middle. Once you hit the middle, you just want to create one last double clove hitch (or double half hitch knot). So here you can see I've got both cords here and I'm just completing one last knot. Which will close that and make it look very neat. So then for this design. I'm going to then go ahead and complete a second row on either side using the exact same knot and technique. And then again, once I'm in the middle, I'm going to knot both the cords together to finish it off. So now this is the whole bag design complete. We can go ahead and move on to the straps and then we can assemble the bag together. 6. Making the bag straps: So now it's time to work on the bag straps so you can just grab one of your bag clasps for now and attach it to something either hoops or sometimes I will string some cord through and tie to the back of a chair. So grab your 2 lengths of 740cm cords and attach to them using a larks head knot, like you did at the start of the bag. So now that these two are attached, you need to grab the two middle quotes of each strand and measure them to about a 140 cm. This is where it gets a little bit confusing, but it will make sense as these cords, you use the least amount and they don't do any knotting or anything. So you need all of the length to be on the outer 2 cords. So once you've measured 140 centimeters, you need to make it so in total, the middle strands should just measure a 140 centimeters and on the outside will have the rest of that length added to it. This just ensures that we will have enough of the outer cords to do all of the square knots. which will use a lot of the cord up. So then repeat that with the other middle cord, measuring a 140 cm again. Now that the 2 middle cords measure 140cm each we can just begin doing square knots. Now, this is also a bit tedious because the outer cords are so long, but it will get easier once you use up a bit of the length. So just continue doing square knots until you're happy with the length, mine I think measured around a 120 cm. But what I recommend doing is taking it off the hook and then you can hold it to your body to see what length you need. So you can either have it as a cross body strap, which is what this one is going to be. Or you could have it just on one shoulder. So therefore it would be a bit shorter. So now I'm just measuring mine and it does indeed measure 120 cm long, and that's the perfect length for my height. I'm five foot three, so that sits perfectly on my hip. Now it's time to add the other clasp to the other end, which can be a bit difficult to do. So for now just ignore the two middle cords, we won't be using them, so take the outer one on the left and put it through the bag clasp like this. And then you're going to bring that cord around from the left in front of that cord and to the back. And then you're gonna bring it through the back of the loop like this. And then that cord would just go through the loop that you've left there. As you can see, now you can just pull it too tighten it and, you will see it will resemble a larks head knot. So this is just a different way to make a larks head knot when you can't just attach it in a normal way. So it just tighten it until it fits snug up against the last square knot. And then repeat with the other outer cord. So again, we go through that loop from the front. That strand then comes round towards the left of that cord, around the front of the cord and back through the back of the hoop. And through that loop there, it's a bit confusing, but I promise you you'll get the hang of it. And then that's done. You can just tighten that again. So it fits snug up against the square knot, and then we'll finish the straps off a bit later on. 7. Stitching the bag together: Now that all the rows of double clove hitch knots have been finished, It is now time to stitch the bag together, which is where the two cords here, which are from the initial a 140cm cord, will come in handy as you use these to stitch up the bag. So first I just like to make sure that that's an equal amount of cord on both sides, as you can see one side was longer than the other. So it's very easy to fix. You can just slide the bag along the string, and then just measure it again. So mine just needed a little more adjusting. Now, it's pretty much perfect, so I'm happy with that. So I'll leave this and we'll get to stitching the bag. So here I'm just showing you that the right side is down. And then this is what the finished bag would look like. So this is what we're aiming for. And then obviously that flap would come over the front of the back like this. In order to stitch the bag together, we actually need to do it inside out. This is so the knot at the end of the edges will be on the inside of the bag so you won't see it in the final product. So flip it so it's right-side up, as you can see here, the double clove hitch knot is facing up towards me. And then it will close like this. And then once it's all stitched together, we can flip it right side out. So here you can see the loops on either side. This is what we're gonna do. So we're going to match them up and then stitch them using this cord. Now I recommend using a bit of sellotape just to wrap the end of the cord so it gives it a bit of stiffness, it's just a lot easier to pull though as it won't fray. So this is perfect and it will stop it from fraying as you're pulling it and pushing it. So here you can see I'm just pushing this through that initial loop there like so and then I'm just pulling that tight to close up that stitch. And then I'm gonna go through a second time with that first loop and then join it onto the top loop as well. So that's one stitch. Now moving on to the second loop and the second loop of the top layer. And doing the exact same for them. So one loop and then grab onto the second loop And I like to do two stitches per loop, I think is a nice way to close it up. It looks pretty from the outside. And obviously it gives it a lot more durability. So again, the third loop, grabbing it once going through and then I'm going through a second time. So now you just want to repeat this for all the loops going down the side of the bag, then we'll finish it off with the knot. So now we're coming to the end of the bag. As you can see, I've go through the last loop once. I go through twice and then I go through a third time. See these lovely, neat stitches there. So I go through a 3rd time and this time I tie the cord in a knot, so you can see there it's knotting and then I go through another time. you just wanna make sure you are securing it with a couple of knots, attaching it to some cord somewhere so here once more a knot. And that is just to secure it and make sure it doesn't come undone. which I'm sure it won't. So this will be on the inside of your bag because we have flipped it inside out. So you won't see any of these knots or the little bit of cord. So I'm just looping it through one more loop, trying to, anyway. And then I'm just going to snip it. So now that one side of the bag is completely stitched together, we can just go ahead and repeat with the other side to first of all. I'm taping off the end of the cord. And then I'm gonna go ahead and repeat. So two stitches in each row of loops, and then just knotting it a few times at the end to secure it. Now you can just cut that end cord and now it's time to turn the bag right side out. So it's a bit tricky to do as the cord is a bit stiff. And then I just like to press the corners out with my fingers, just to get a nice crisp point. And as you can see, all the stitches are lovely and neat on the outside and you can't see any of the knots. So now I'm just going to trim the tassels. so we don't have too much. But these two middle cords, the ones that made up the last row of double clove hitch knots you need to put them to the side. As they don't need to be trimmed yet. We need the length on them. All of these other fringes. I'm just going to trim, just roughly for now and then do the final trim later. So this is just to make it easier on ourselves. So they are all trimmed now and as you can see I've left those two middle cords longer. This is where we will attach our tassel so we need them to be longer for now, we can trim them a bit later if needed. 8. Crown knot tassel : So now we're going to create the crown, knot for the tassel. So you need five of the 25cm bits, one bit you just put aside for later and then 4 bits you need now, so put two together like this in a diagonal line. And then you're gonna take the other two across that line. And this is a bit difficult to explain, but hopefully the video will help a lot, but it helps if you number the cords, one to four going clockwise. So starting with this one, number one. So you will take cord number one here, place it over the second cord. If you're going in a clockwise clock take number 2 and place it over cord number 1 and number 3 Take cord number three, place it over cord 2 and cord 4. And then the fourth cord here will go over the 3rd And then through this loop that is created by the first cord. But as long as you get this box shape, with the 4th cord going through that first loop, you'll be fine. And now it's time to attach it to the bag so you can grab your bag. I'm just trimming these two middle bits just to make it a little easier. They don't need to be quite so long. Now, you will see here we have the two holes. This is where we're going to take one cord and we're going to feed it through that one hole there. And then we're gonna take the left cord here and go through the left hole there. Now you can just pull on all the four cords here. Just to slowly close that box that is forming the square, which will grip those two longer cords from the bag in place and it will attach the tassel to the bag. So you can just go ahead and pull individually each cord, to make sure they lay flat and they're all tightened. And then you can just slide it up using those two cords there that to top of your bag. And then you could see it has this lovely little box shape on the top of your tassel. And we'll finish this off in the next lesson. 9. Wrapping/gathering knots: Now we need to create wrapping or gathering, knots they're sometimes called to finish off the straps and the tassel. So for these you'll be using the three that are left over of the 25 cm cords. So take one cord like this, with a little bit of the tail pointing up and you're going to create this long U-shaped like this. And then you're gonna take the longer tail bit and start wrapping it around. Which you need to wrap that little tail in as well, just like this. So you've got the loop at the bottom and the smaller tail at the top and then keep wrapping until you've done about three wraps. And then you're gonna take that longer tail, that's sticking out there. You're going to go through the loop that you left at the bottom. Just like that. And then you can just hold that in place, gently and Tug on this smaller tail at the top which will start to close the loop. And it will secure that long tail in place. So you just need to pull this until it's about halfway through the knot. you don't want to pull it all the way through as that will undo the knot and you'll have to start again. So just until you can feel it about midway through. So now it's nice and neat. And you can just snip this bottom tail as close to the knot as you can. And then you can just gently pull on the top tail a bit just to sort of hide that in the knot. Again, making sure you don't pull it all the way through. And then you can trim that top tail bit This isn't necessary but I like to get some jewellery pliers and just twist and push that cord. So it's a bit hidden under all the wraps so it will make for a neater finish. And now we can go ahead and do it on this side. I'm just trimming these cords as they don't need to be as long. You ideally want these quotes to be tucked in the wrapping knot. Again, I'm just creating a wrapping knot here including all those 4 cords that were left. It looks a bit messy this one. This is why I started off with the easier side to show you. As all the cords get a little bit messy looking here, but we'll fix that once we have finished the knot. So again, just tugging on that top tail to pull the cord underneath the knot and through the middle. And now we can go ahead and trim all the bits are hanging out and make them look as neat as possible. And again, I just go through with jewellery pliers just to push all the loose ends in and try and make it as neat as I can. And now with the last of the 25 centimeter code, we're going to do one last wrapping, knot on the tassel here. So I only do about two or three wraps here. And then you can do the exact same. So pull it through and then snip off the excess cords. And if you're using jewellery pliers, just tuck it under. If not, you don't really need to worry about it. And then we can just go ahead and trim the tassel. And then we'll finish the bag in the next lesson. 10. Combing: Now that all the wrapping knots and gathering knots have been done. The bag is completely finished. We just need to go through and do the final touches. So for me, that means combing out the fringe. So here I'm just starting off with the normal comb. But as you can see, it takes a long time and it gets knotted. So as you can see with this wire brush, it just goes through it so quickly, which is why I really recommend it. And then I just use the comb to get the bits that are near the knots. And I'm just going to repeat that on the other side. And then I'm also going to comb out the little tassel so for combing out the little tassel, I just recommend holding it at the top. like I'm doing here with my hand. That's just to make sure it won't slide off those two cords. And now it's time to trim the bag. I actually used a smint tin. I find that it's perfect width for the fringe that I like. But you can go ahead and trim it however you like. The tin measures about four centimeters wide, which is the perfect length me. So I just go ahead and use that to trim it all. So that was a very rough cut. So then I just go ahead without the smint tin and trim off any bits. This doesn't have to be the final cut. We can still do a little cut later if we think it's necessary. So I'm just gonna go ahead and repeat that with the other side and then we'll trim the tassel again. So now that both sides are cut, you can see the bag is looking really nice. I'm going to give the tassel one more trim now that it's all combed out to get it at a nice even length. So give it one last final comb before I trim it. And I normally just eyeball this to whatever I think looks best. But I will measure it for you if you want to recreate the exact same length. So it's about five cm long. And then for me that as the bag finished, I may go through later and just trim the fringe a little bit more to get it a bit more even and straight. But for me this is perfect. Now, all that's left to do is attach your bag straps. So if you open up your bag, you can see on either side at the top that is this loop here, which is the initial a 140 cm cord that we used to stitch the bag. And that is what I'm going to attach each clasp too. So one side and then the other side, you can see just here perfectly and voila the bag is now finished and you should have a lovely macrame bag that you made all by yourself. Now the bag is finally finished and I hope you have learnt a few techniques or some new things with this class. So the knots in this class that you will have learnt will be larks head knot, so that was knot we used to attach all the cords to the holding cord. You have learnt a square knot, which is what the bag is made up of and the strap. Learnt the double clove hitch knot which makes the V shape the crown knot, which makes up that cute little tassel. And then finally, the final knot we learnt was the wrapping or gathering knot which is just a really lovely way to finish off and make things look a bit neater, covering up all the cords. So for me, the bag is the perfect size for all your essentials so you've got your phone, purse, keys lipgloss. We could even put in the smint tin that I used to trim it. And voila, the bag is now finished in the last lesson, I'll just go over a bit about the class project and what I would like you to do. 11. Final thoughts and class project: For the class project, I would like you to use the skills and techniques you have learnt in this class to create your own beautiful macrame bag. You can feel free to add more cords to the body of the bag in order to make it wider. Or you could even shorten the straps to make it clutch bag. I also think it would look very pretty using two colours for the body of the bag. So in order to do that, you would just need to cut 11 lengths of cord from both colours and alternate the colours when adding them onto the 140cm cord. You can even make the flap of the bag straight rather than triangular. So just feel free to play around with your design and sketch out what you think would make a lovely bag. And please share your progress pictures and you'll final pictures for everyone to see. It might even help out a student whose struggling a bit. And I'd really love to see your progress and love to see what knots you use and how you use them. So thank you so much for joining me on my first ever class teaching on Skillshare. I hope you've learnt something or just enjoyed the process along the way. And I hope you join me on my next teaching class. I really can't wait to see some of your designs. And I know they're going to be spectacular and different to mine. And I can't wait to see them and share them.