Hemp Bracelets

Fun tutorial written by Rena at Jewelry Making Journal.  Love these cute bracelets for everyday and especially for a fun summer or spring time look!

How to Make Hemp Bracelets – a Tutorial

by Rena Klingenberg.

How to make hemp bracelets with beads and crochet chain stitch.

Here’s how to make hemp bracelets with a sparkle of beads and the simplest of crochet stitches – the chain stitch.

These are so fast and easy to make – and it’s a really fun way to play with color combinations!

This is also a very cheap project, costing me less than $1 each to make.

I made my bracelets with a button-and-loop clasp – but you can also use a large bead, a hook, or other jewelry clasp instead of a button. You might also decide to simply tie the ends of your bracelet together after you’ve wound it around and around your wrist.

Teens and pre-teens love to learn how to make hemp bracelets and other jewelry crafts like this.

This project is perfect for a young person to make several of, as gifts for friends and family.

Supplies

(In this tutorial, I’m making the pinkish-lavender bracelet shown above, at the far right.)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• An approximately 15-foot (4.6 meter) strand of hemp cord (20-lb size) for a bracelet that wraps around your wrist 5 times. Or a longer piece of hemp if you want to make a bracelet with more wraps.

• Beads with holes large enough for your hemp cord to pass through. In this tutorial I used a size 6/0 bead mix from Bead Treasures, in a color combo called “Birds of a Feather”. (Purchased on sale at Hobby Lobby.) I used about 80 beads for this 5-wrap bracelet.

• Whatever you’d like to use for a clasp – I used a 2-hole button, about 1/2 inch (1.27 cm) in diameter.

• Ordinary white glue, to keep your cord end from fraying while you’re stringing your beads.

• Crochet hook – I used size “D” (UK size 10; metric size 3.25 mm) for this size of hemp cord.

• Ruler.

• Scissors.

How to Make Hemp Bracelets

First we’re going to make the tip of our cord stiff enough to string beads onto it easily without fraying.

So squeeze a dab of ordinary white glue onto the tip of your finger:

. . . and then use your fingers to coat the first few inches (cms) of your hemp cord with the glue:

The glue will air-dry pretty quickly, but you can use a hair dryer to get it dry in less than a minute.

You’re going to string all of the beads you’ll be using before you start crocheting.

It’s better to string more beads than you think you’ll need; you can easily remove any excess strung beads off the back end of your cord when you’ve finished crocheting.

So as soon as the glue on your cord is dry, you can start stringing beads onto the cord:

Here’s approximately what you’ll have when you’re done stringing your beads:

Now thread your hemp cord up through one hole of your button, and down through its other hole:

. . . then turn the button over and tie a couple of knots in your hemp cord, on the underside of the button:

Now we’re going to start crocheting.

I find it’s best for this project if you crochet kind of loosely, so your finished bracelet will be soft and flexible.

If you tend to crochet tightly, you may want to use a larger crochet hook.

Take the long end of your hemp cord, and curve it into a little loop right next to the knots you just tied at the underside of your button:

. . . and then insert your crochet hook through this loop, and use the hook to pull the long end of your cord through your loop:

Tighten the loop, sliding it down against the knots you tied at the back of your button.

You’ve just made the first chain stitch of this bracelet.

Your crochet hook should still be inserted in the second loop you just formed when you pulled the long end of your cord through your first loop.

If necessary, pull gently on the long end of your hemp cord to adjust this second loop so that it’s just slightly loose around your crochet hook.

Now use your hook to pull the long end of your cord through this second loop, to make a second chain stitch.

Make a total of 3 chain stitches:

. . . and then slide your first bead up your hemp cord next to the chain stitch you just finished, and just include this bead in your next chain stitch:

Easy-peasy, right?

Now continue chain-stitching – adding a bead into every second stitch (1 stitch without a bead, 1 stitch with a bead) until your chain reaches your desired length.

For my design in this How to Make Hemp Bracelets tutorial, the chain is about 34 inches (86.3 cm):

Now you’re going to make a few more chain stitches without beads, to make the loop that your button will go through to fasten your bracelet.

I made about 8 chain stitches after my last bead:

. . . and then curved those beadless chain stitches into a loop, to test whether my button would fit through this loop:

When your beadless chain end is the right length for the loop, leave your crochet hook in the last chain loop, and also insert the hook through the last bead stitch of your bracelet:

. . . then use your hook to pull the long end of your hemp cord through both loops you now have on your crochet hook.

Make one final chain stitch after that, and then pull up a big loop. Use your scissors to cut off your hemp cord in the middle of this loop:

Now be sure to pull tightly on this newly-cut end hemp cord at the end of your bracelet, to make a nice tight knot.

To hide this hemp cord “tail”, use your crochet hook to weave this cut end back through some of your bead crochet stitches.

Then do the same thing to weave the hemp cord tail at the button end of your bracelet into your bead crochet chain.

You’re finished! And that’s how to make hemp bracelets with beads and a super-easy crochet stitch.

Wearing Your Wrapped Hemp Bracelet

Simply wind your crocheted, beaded hemp strand around your wrist as many times as possible.

Then pass the button end under half of the strands, and the loop end under the other half of the strands, so you can fasten your button clasp in the middle of your wrapped bracelet strands.

Then adjust the button so it sits nicely on top of the strands.

You can wear the button on the top of your wrist as decorative focal point, or on the inside of your wrist as a clasp.

Now slide a finger from your other hand under all of the strands, to pull the strands to an even tension around your wrist. If I don’t do this, I tend to have some tight strands and some loose ones in my wrap.