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DIY Heart Friendship Bracelet

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As the month of love approaches, we thought we’d combine friendship and hearts into one Valentine’s Day themed tutorial: a heart patterned friendship bracelet! Using some candy-colored embroidery floss and your familiarity with the chevron friendship bracelet, you’ll be able to whip up one of these tokens of love in a heartbeat.

You’ll need:

  • 2 colors of embroidery floss
  • scissors
  • tape or clipboard

Creating a heart pattern involves just a simple modification to the chevron patterned friendship bracelet. Start by cutting 4 strands of each color, at about 24 inches each, for a total of 8 strands. Alternate the thread colors before tying them together in a knot. Remember to leave at least 3 inches of slack. Tape the knot to a flat working surface or clip onto a clipboard.

Separate the threads into 2 sets, 2 of each color on each side. Arrange the strands in an alternating, mirror-image pattern with the outside threads matching and so on moving inwards.

Start on the left side with the outermost strand (shown here in red) and make a forward knot by creating a 4-shape over the 2nd strand (shown here in blue), loop it under and back through the opening.

Pull up and to the right to tighten. Make the same knot twice everytime.

Continue knotting over each color, towards the right, until the outermost color has carried over to the middle. This is one half of the chevron pattern.

Pick up the outermost strand on the right side (show here in red) and make a backward knot, creating a reverse 4-shape over the 2nd to last strand (shown here in blue), loop it under and back through the opening. Pull up and to the left to tighten. Don’t forget to knot twice!

Continue knotting towards the left until the outermost strand reaches the middle. Tie a backwards knot with the two middle strands to connect the two halves. Don’t forget to always knot twice!

Continue onto a second row using the same method. Two normal, chevron rows are complete. Now, it’s time for a “special” row: take the 2nd outermost strand (shown here in blue) and make a backwards knot over the outermost strand (shown here in red). Knot twice.

Repeat on the other side: take the 2nd to last strand (shown here in blue) and make a forward knot over the outermost strand (showin here in red). Knot twice.

Complete the row by taking the 2nd outermost strand (shown here in red) and make forward knots over each strand until it reaches the middle.

Mirror the steps on the other side and connect the middle strands. The heart cleavage has been created and the third row is finished.

Now repeat this special row again for the 4th row, taking the 2nd outermost strand and reversing the knot over the outermost strand.

Mirror the step on the other side. This forms the outer edge of the heart. Now fill in the heart by finishing the row with 2nd outermost strand (shown here in blue) and making forward knots over each strand until it reaches the middle.

Mirror the steps on the other side and connect the middle strands. Now, it’s back to a normal row again to close the heart. Make forward knots with the outermost strands, moving inwards towards the middle. Connect the middle strands.

Knot another normal row and then 2 special rows to form another heart. Do you see the pattern? 2 normal, 2 special, 2 normal, 2 special . . . keep going until the bracelet is long enough to fit around the wrist.

Finish the bracelet with a big knot and trim the ends.

Voila! Heart patterned friendship bracelets done.

Happy heart day!

(bracelets by Vita Fede, Giles & Brother, & Gorjana, ring by Catbird, dress by Zimmermann; all images by HonestlyWTF)

121 Comments

  12. Anjo Angela Lim    January 29, 2013

    You are amazing!! I remember friendship bracelets being all the rage back in the 90s…your post made me want to get back into the whole craze again! You’re like, suuuuuuper talented :) Hehehe.

  17. Sarah    January 29, 2013

    These are awesome! I need to dust off my middle school friendship bracelet skills and get on these. Thank you for sharing!!

  21. rachel    January 29, 2013

    Are these meant to be worn 24/7? or can you knot it in a way that it can be removed?

  26. Courtney    January 29, 2013

    Love your posts, keep up the wonderful work! Would love your suggestions for a clasp or other fastener for friendship bracelets too!

  27. Anika Tomislavova    January 29, 2013

    Tnx for sharing! I wanted to do friendship bracelet for a while but had no idea how to do it! This will be very helpful!
    Keep on good blogging!
    Wink ;)
    Anika

  34. Chloé    January 29, 2013

    Great idea !!!

    Check my blog :) :

    Http://www.thefashiontale.com

  39. Véro    January 29, 2013

    I’m a huge fan of this website! and these bracelets are such a cute valentine’s accessorize.

    Just a quick question: does anyone know where the cute heart ring (and bracelet) are from?

  43. Nancy    January 29, 2013

    You always have the best and most inspiring DIYs. Whether they are for fun or for nice jewelry, you make the best directions, so clear and easy for everyone to understand. Thank you so much!!

  44. Jodie    January 29, 2013

    Wowzers, found your blog via pinterest and LOVE IT! Thanks so much, what a beautiful place to come explore.

  53. Jessica    January 30, 2013

    I love making friendship bracelets but this is such an awesome twist on an old favorite. I’m definitely picking up some embroidery floss and making one of these before valentine’s day. Time to pin this to my crafts board on Pinterest.

    TheseTwoLanes.com

  55. Stephanie S.    January 30, 2013

    Another wonderful tutorial and love the colors. Thank you for sharing.

  56. Olivia    January 30, 2013

    These are so wonderful, and perfect for Valentines Day since I don’t have money to spend on presents. Thank you so much!

  63. Appa    February 2, 2013

    Whaa! Thank u so much! I tried to find this pattern but i couldnt find good one. I’m so happyy now!

  64. Appa    February 2, 2013

    Whaa! Thank u so much! I tried to find this pattern but i couldnt find good one. I’m so happyy now! ♥

  67. barbara    February 6, 2013

    Awesome, love it! I’m going to do it this afternoon for some of my best friends. Thank you!

  68. erika    February 6, 2013

    How are you getting them so smooth! Mine keep turning out bumpy on the sides? And how did you get them so thick? ugh!

  69. barbara    February 6, 2013

    erika, I think it depends on the quality of the embroidery floss. Practice is necessary as well: I have done many of these bracelets (not always with hearts) so now I can make quite good ones! (A tip: don’t tie too tight)

  72. marettuccia    February 10, 2013

    With all the respect the instructions are not all that correct – or something’s wrong with my understanding.
    In any case many thanks for the tutorial (I only had to improvise to get the frame-shaped hearts instead of full somethings that looked like hearts and double the size of the strands).

  74. Yiota    February 15, 2013

    Thank you so much!! I created a bracelet, it didn’t come out like yours, I mean some of the hearts weren’t perfect but I guess I have to practice more!!! Thanks again for the instructions and the pictures!!

  75. Traci    February 16, 2013

    Okay, so I tried this because it is SUPER cute, and it looked NOTHING like the pics…even the first two rows and I was really careful to place all the pieces in the correct place. They all looked like each of the photos. Am I just losing it on this one? I really want to be able to do this with my daughter.

    Thanks so much for the tutorial. I am sure that my novice D.I.Y. skills are shining through! LOL.

  76. Erica    February 16, 2013

    @Traci are you sure you are knotting each knot twice?? if you email us a picture of what the bracelet looks like as you’ve made it, we can probably solve the issue for you!

  82. Janet    March 22, 2013

    I am old and slow…after I make the knot and tie off the ends, I am left with something resembling a bookmark. How do you connect the ends to actually make it a bracelet that will slide on and off your wrist? Thanks for any help.

  83. Manou    March 30, 2013

    awesome tutorial *-* I made it and it looked freaking amazing *-*

  89. craftygirl    May 1, 2013

    Just started to make these for my friends LOVE” EM!!!!!
    They are super easy and fast!!!!

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