How to Make a Friendship "Jesus" Bracelet
A friendship "Jesus" bracelet is an appropriate church group activity, gift for a family member or friend or craft project for a rainy day. Friendship bracelets, often worn by a younger crowd, are created by forming knots with various colors of embroidery thread or similar types of string. The diagonal stripe is usually considered one of the easier bracelet patterns, and letter beads will differentiate your "Jesus" bracelet from regular friendship bracelets.
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Things You'll Need
- Embroidery thread in multiple colors
- Measuring tape
- Scissors
- Duct tape
- Letter beads for the word "Jesus"
Instructions
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1
Cut a 4-foot-long piece of each color of thread. The long length is necessary because you'll fold the string in half before you start making the bracelet, and it takes approximately 2 feet of thread, doubled, to make an entire bracelet.
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2
Gather the strings so that they're lined up and even with each other at the top and bottom. Fold the strings in half at the center point, forming a loop, and pinch the loop. Holding all of the strings at once, tie an overhand knot. Create an overhand knot by creating a loop in your string, sliding one end of the string through the loop, and then pulling it tight to create the knot.
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3
Use a piece of duct tape to secure the thread to a hard, flat surface that is at a comfortable height for you to work on while sitting. Place the duct tape on top of the overhand knot and loop, so that it doesn't interfere with the hanging threads where you will create the bracelet knots.
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4
Spread out your embroidery thread strands. The order in which you spread the colors out will be the order in which they appear as the rows of the bracelet.
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5
Pinch the left-most string with your right hand. Pinch the string directly to the right of the first string with your left hand. With the first string in your right hand, make a "4" shape over the second string. Once you bring the strand over the second string, tuck it behind and under the second string. Pull it up back in front of the first string. When you pull the first string up, it will slide up the second string and tighten into a half hitch knot. Repeat this to create two half hitch knots per string before moving the first string straight across to the next colored string. Continue to make knots with the first color of thread all the way across the other remaining threads in order to form a diagonal row of that single color.
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6
Repeat Step 5, moving from the left to the right with each successive colored strand to form more diagonal rows. As you tighten the knots, use the same strength and force each time to keep the knots consistent and ensure that the width of the bracelet remains the same throughout the process.
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7
Measure your wrist to decide where to put the "Jesus" letter beads onto the bracelet. For example, if your wrist is 8 inches around, slide the "Jesus" letter beads onto the strings once you have created about 3.5 inches of the bracelet. Put the beads on a little bit before the halfway mark because you want to leave some room to account for the size of the beads, and you want to leave some room for tying off the bracelet when you're finished knotting.
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8
Gather all but the outside strings in one hand at the measurement that you determined in Step 8. Leave each outside string spread out to the side. Slide the "J" bead onto the cluster of strings. Use the two outside strings to create one half hitch knot as in Step 5. Repeat for each letter that you slide onto the bracelet. The knots between the letters secure them in place.
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9
Continue to create rows of half hitch knots until you have reached the desired length of the bracelet. The second half of the bracelet should be the same length as half before you added the letter beads.
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10
Tie the bracelet off with an overhand knot. Braid the ends of the remaining strings or cut them off before wearing the bracelet.
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Tips & Warnings
Sometimes when you make a half hitch knot, the wrong color thread will create the knot when you slide the string up and tighten it. Rather than undoing the knot, lightly tug at the second string. The first string, which you're using to create the row, will pop into place, forming the correct knot.
If you make a mistake, loosely pinch at the threads and tug them apart to undo a knot. Then try again.
You can demonstrate that this is a religious bracelet with the thread colors that you choose. Royal blue and bright blue are typically associated with the birth of Jesus, as they are said to reflect the night sky or heavens from which Jesus' birth was announced. Pink represents the Sunday just before the birth of Jesus. Yellow, a popular Easter color, is associated with the Resurrection. Red, the color of fire, represents the impending death of Jesus. You may choose to use any combination of these colors for your friendship bracelet.
