How to Make an American Flag Bead Bracelet

Make a wide bracelet that follows the pattern of the American flag.

Wearing patriotic jewelry shows pride in the United States and helps you dress up for patriotic holidays, including the Fourth of July, Memorial Day and Veteran's Day. Although you can buy beaded bracelets that look like the American flag, they are fairly easy to make on your own as well. Use red, white and blue beads and basic jewelry materials to make a bracelet that looks like an American flag. You can either use seed beads to make it to scale or larger pony beads for a craft for smaller hands.

Things You'll Need

• Jewelry wire or elastic cord
• Crimp beads
• Jewelry clasp
• Crimp pliers
• Seed or pony beads in red, white and blue
• Wire cutters or scissors

Instructions

1. Cut 13 pieces of jewelry wire long enough to go around your wrist, plus about 2 inches extra for tying it off. If you are using larger pony beads and elastic cord, the bracelet will be simpler to make with only seven strands of cord.

2. Place a crimp bead on the end of each piece of jewelry wire. Thread each of the wires through the jewelry clasp and back into its crimp bead. Crimp the beads tightly with pliers. If using elastic cord, just tie all of the pieces together into a knot.

3. Lay out the pieces of wire or cord to make parallel strands.

4. String red beads onto the first strand and alternate white and red beads with each strand, ending with red beads on the last one. Continue adding beads to all strands until you are about one-third of the way around the bracelet.

5. Put a blue bead on each of the top seven strands, or top five strands if you are making a bracelet with only seven strands total. Set aside the other strands for now.

6. Put a white bead after the blue bead on every other strand, starting at the top and working down. Put a blue bead on the strands that did not get a white one.

7. Alternate blue and white beads on these strands until your section of stars is as large as you would like it. Generally, go no more than 2 inches. End with a row of all blue beads.

8. Thread red and white beads onto all of the strands to continue the stripe pattern you began earlier.

9. Stop adding beads when the bracelet is almost the length you want, or if you are using elastic cord and pony beads, when it is the length you want.

10. Place a crimp bead on each piece of wire and thread each one through the other end of the closure and back through the crimp bead. Crimp the beads shut with pliers. If you are using elastic cord, slip the loose ends through a few of the gaps between the knot and the beads on the other end, which brings the two ends of the bracelet together to make a loop. Tie all of these loose strands together in a knot to end the bracelet.

11. Trim off any excess wire or elastic cord with wire cutters or scissors.

Tips & Warnings

• If you make this bracelet tight, you can lay out the strands in order when you put it on so it looks like a flat flag. With a loose bracelet, it will look like a flag from a distance, but will have the strands jumbled together in a unique pattern. If you want the bracelet to stay in order, you will need to attach the strands to a multi-strand finding.