Macrame, the beloved past time of 70’s housewives, is back in a big way. Crafters across the country are weaving their hearts out to make textural wall hangings and adorable plant hangers for air plants.
Give this technique a try with our ultra simple version. We just use one knot and jazz things up with a dip diy technique.
How to Make a Dip Dyed Wall Hanging
Supplies: Cotton Yarn, Dowel Rod, Trashbag, Rubber Gloves, Scissors, Rit Dye (We used Kelly Green and Denim Blue).
1. Protect your work surface. Dyeing is messy!
2. Cut yarn to 2 ft. lengths. We needed about 30 for our 1 ft. dowel rod.
3. Knot yarn around dowel. Fold yarn in half, drape over dowel and pull loose ends through loop. Repeat to length of dowel with about 1″ left open on either end. (We did a smaller section just for demonstration purposes.)
4. Lay dowel with yarn on flat surface and straighten strands. Lay scotch tape across yarn in the shape you’d like to cut. We did a “V” with our full size hanging.) Snip off yarn ends below tape.
5. Mix Rit Dye powder with hot water in glass container. Determine proportions according to dye package. One package makes about a gallon of dye, so you won’t need the whole thing. Stir to dissolve.
6. Wet yarn with water before you dip. This will allow it to go smoothly into dye rather than floating on top.
7. Dip in green dye 2/3 of the way up yarn. Leave for 20-30 mins. Squeeze out excess dye and rinse with warm water.
8. Dip 1/3 of yarn in blue dye. Leave for 20-30 mins. Squeeze out excess dye and rinse with warm water.
9. Let dry on protected surface.
10. Cut a 1.5′ piece of yarn tie on either end of the dowel rod. This will act as a hanger and keep your knotted yarn from sliding off.
11. Hang + style!
What Next?
Want to try something more advanced? The weaving tutorials on A Beautiful Mess, Honestly WTF and Pretty Prudent are a great place to start.
