Step-by-step Instructions

Intermediate

M a c r a m e P u r s e T u t o r ia l
Dorte Studio
 Meet the maker
Hi!
My name is Dorte and I have been teaching
macrame for over 7 years now. I have been making
workshops in London and in Vilnius (Lithuania). A
short time ago I started making online classes, craft
kits, video and written tutorials.
I totally LOVE sharing my passion for this craft and,
interacting with people and creating things
together.

I hope you also get as crazy about

macrame as I do! Please check
my Instagram page
@dortestudio, maybe you find
some inspiration there.
And if you have any questions or
doubts please emiail me
(dortestudio@gmail.com)

Thank you again for supporting

Dorte Studio, this means so
much to me!

Dorte
 How to start?
If you are a beginner in Macrame, to make this
purse you will have to learn making 3 kinds of
knots: a Lark's Head Knot, Square Knot and a
Double Half Hitch Knot.
Detailed instructions on how to make each knot
you can find in the other attached PDF file
(Macrame Beginners Guide)

I suggest you to practice the knots for a

while (with different kinds of cord)
before you start making the purse!

What you will need to make this purse:

1. Cord ( single strand or 3-ply). For
this tutorial I use single strand cord.
You can also use braided cord, but
remember that it's usually not
possible to brush it. In total you
need about 70 meters of cord
2. Sharp scissors
3. Tape measure or a ruler
4. A comb
5. Scotch tape/ duct tape/ adhesive
tape (optional)
 Let's start, step by step!
1
1 . The first thing you need to do is to CUT the cord . In
total you need 20 pieces 270cm long, one piece of 80
cm, one piece of 420cm and one piece of 9 meters.

In total that's about 68 meters of cord, but it's always

better to purchase a bigger roll of cord.

In this tutorial I use a single strand cord about 4 mm

thick, you can find it in my shop (Dortestudio).

2 2. Now take the cord of 80 cm. You have to attach it to

something, before you start making knots. On the
photo nr 2 it's attached to a piece of a cardboard with a
duck tape. You can also pin it onto a pillow or a book.
The cord should be tight.

3.Then you have to attach the 20 pieces of cord (270cm

3 long) to the cord we just fixed. Find the CENTER of the
cord and then use the Lark's Head Knot to attach it.

Detailed instructions of this knot you can find in the

other PDF tutorial "Macrame Beginners Guide", which
was included when you purchased this tutorial.
4 4. On the photo on the left one Lark's Head Knot is
made.
5 5. Next, attach all 20 cords in the same way.

6
6. Here you see all 20 cords
attached. Every cord has 2 ends, so
we have in total 40 cords to work
with

7
7. Now we're starting to make the basic pattern!
Take 4 cords on the left side.

8 8. Then make a Square Knot (Detailed

instructions for this knot you can find in the
other PDF tutorial "Macrame Beginners
Guide").
Remember to always use 4 cords for this

9
knot.

9. Here you see our first Square Knot completed!

Then, you take next 4 cords ant make another Square Knot.
10
10. Continue making Square Knots with all
the cords! When you make 10 knots, you
will see that we made our first row already!

11
1 11 . Now we're going to make the second row. Start on
2 the left side, like the first row. IMPORTANT: in this row
we don't use the first and the second cord! Just leave
them on your left side and make a Square Knot with the
third, forth, fifth and the sixth cord, then with the next 4
cords an so on.

12
12. When you're at the end of the row, you will notice
that you have 2 cords left. We don't touch them,
same as the 2 cords we left at the beginning of the
row.

13
13. We completed the second
row! NOTE: first row has 10
knots, the 2nd has 9 knots
(because we left two cords in the
beginning and in the end of the
row). And so it continues: 3rd
row will have 10 knots, 4th - 9
knots and so on.
14
14. Now start making the 3rd row. Basically it
goes same as the first row. Make a square knot
using 4 strings on the left side, then next 4 strings
and so on.

15 15. Don't worry if you see that there are

some bigger holes on the sides (where the
finger on the picture points).

16 16. Keep on making rows of square knots,

until the cords you're using are about 30
cm long.

}
17

about 30 cm
18
18. Now we want to shape the work into the
shape the black lines on the picture show. To
do so, when we make a new row, we have to
make it using one square knot less.

19 19. Continue until you get to a

row which has 5 square knots.

1 2 3 4 5

20
20.Now we want to make a DIAGONAL
LINE starting on the left side and going
down.
 21. To make this line, we will use a Double Half Hitch Knot.
21 If you're new to this knot, please find it in the "Macrame
Beginners Guide" (which was included with this tutorial)
and practice it for a while.
Use the first cord on the left as a base (or filler) cord and
start making DHHK (Double Half Hitch Knots ) on the top
of base cord, using the second cord, then the third and so
on. On the photo on the left you see one DHHK made.

22 22. Here on the photo you see 3 DHHKs made.

Continue making this line down towards the center of
the purse.

23 23. Here we have the line finished, Now we

have to make a symmetrical line on the right.

24 24. To make this line, start making DHHK,

starting on the right side. The first cord on
the right will be our base (filler) cord.
25 25. When the line on the right side is made, in the center
you have to join those two lines you made. Use any of
them as the base line and make a DHHK with the other
one. Here's the result:

26 26. Then, starting on the left, we should make one

row of sqare knots.

27 27. After that, we should make two

more lines, on the left side and on
the right side, as in steps 21-25.

28 29
30 30. Now we have to make the sides of the purse.
Fold the piece as shown on the picture ( corners
marked with letter 'a' go to dots where arrows
show)

. . Important: this pattern should be facing up as

shown in the picture below:

a 31
a

32
32. Now take the ends of those longs cords as
shown in the picture and wrap them with a
duck tape (to make them stiff ).

33 34 35
33. Now this stiff cord end we will
use as a needle to stitch the sides
of the purse, as shown on the
pictures 33,34,35
36
36. "Stitch' all the way down to the bottom of the
purse. The spiral drawn on the picture on the left
shows the direction of stitching. In total it should be
about 10 or 12 stitches.

37 38 37. Cut the taped end of the

cord and make a simple knot, to
secure the stitching.

Then do the same on the other

side.
39 39. ALTERNATIVE WAY TO STITCH the
sides of the purse- use a crochet hook or a
huge needle.

40 40. We were stiching on the reverse side of the purse,

now turn it to the right side. It should look similar to
the picture on the left.
41 42 39. Now we are going to make the
handle of the purse. Take a new
piece of cord (420 centimeters) and
Center of attach it to the purse as shown in
the cord
the pictures 41 and 42. Attach it
using Lark's Head Knot.

43 44 43. Now take a longer

cord (about 9 meters
long), find it's center and
attach it to the cord we
wefixed in the previous
step. Use a Square Knot.

45 46 45. Now continue making

square knots with the cords,
until some of the cords get very
short, as shown in the pictures
45 and 46.

47.Now attach the handle to

47 48 the other side of the purse:
take longer cords through
some hole on the main body
(where the arrow shows on
picture 47), and then, using 4
cords as previously, make a
couple of Square Knots
(picture 48).
49 49. Now we have to secure the handle. Turn the purse to
the 'wrong' side for a while, take a short piece of cords (as
shown on the picture on the left).

50 51 50. Use this piece of cord

to attach the loose ends
to the inside part of the
purse. Make a couple of
simple (any kind) of
knots. Then turn the
purse to the right side
again.

52 45. Now it's time to cut the cord in the front

of the purse.
Thats how I do it: cut, then brush, then cut
again the extra bits, then brush again.

Use sharp scisors to make a nice line!

 Now the bag is ready to wear! If it's not perfect,
don't worry, next one will be way better! You
would smile (or laugh) if you could see my first
macrame creations

I hope this tutorial was useful! If you have any

questions or comments, or maybe suggestions what I
could do better (I would really appreciate it) please
feel free to email me dortestudio@gmail.com.

Be welcome to my Instagram page:

https://www.instagram.com/dortestudio/
Thank you!
Dorte