ispindle

How sweet are these?

The girls and I had fun making these simple summer bracelets. Crafting really doesn’t get much simpler than these.

Materials:

a fat quarter or two or three or four or more! You could also use any scraps or yardage you have on hand. We happened to have  fat quarters on hand and their short sides were the perfect length to make a bracelet.

scissors.

Step 1: You need to rip a strip off the fat quarter. (yes, you could cut nicely, but riping is so much more fun!)

On the long edge, make a snip about 1″ long and roughly 1/2″ from the short edge. Grab this tab you just created and tear the strip off. Strips roughly 1/2″ by 18″ worked well for our bracelets. Of course, you can vary the thickness of the strips to fit your fancy!  Cut/tear as many strips as you need to complete your braid. We did simple three strand braids, so used three different colored strips.

Step 2: Braid the strips together. You may find it easiest to safety pin the non-working end to your jeans. Or find a handy-dandy clipboard to hold it. Or enlist a friend’s help. Or just let the end hang free while you braid.

Step 3: Once you are finished braiding, tie around the nearest girly wrist!

Above are just two of the ones we made this afternoon. The left one was finished w/ a “granny knot” and the edges trimmed to make a little bow. The one on the right was finished by tying an overhand knot into each end and then using one end to knot a loose overhand knot around the other end. This sliding knot finish lets the wearer take the bracelet on and off with ease.