How to Make a Dreamcatcher

originally posted 2/22/16:

Looking thru photos recently reminded me how much fun Brooke and I had making dreamcatchers last summer before I started this blog - they turned out so cute I thought I'd make another one to show you guys. The hardest part is weaving the actual "dreamcatcher" part, this time I followed the directions I found here but there are lots of tutorials online if you search. For this one I used a small 3" metal ring (craft store in the yarn/crochet area, they have lots of different sizes), last summer we made bigger ones - all depends where you are going to hang it. It'll probably turn into some kind of driving hazard but I think it would be cute to hang a little one from the rear view mirror in my car.

Wrap the circle with material, ribbon, whatever you want. I ripped about an 1" wide piece of material from some scrap cloth I have leftover from making tote bags last winter, ripping the fabric gave me a rough raggedy edge with strings coming off that I like.

 I did the weaving and knotting the dreamcatcher using about 4' of cream colored embroidery floss, you can use a number of different things like thin hemp or cord - I used what I have on hand. I added one bead to the floss, you can add as many as you like or none at all.

wrap the material around the ring, secure
 with a little glue

tie on approx 4' of floss to weave the dreamcatcher

weaving the dreamcatcher, I added one bead

I tied a long piece of twine to the top for hanging, then hung it on a knob above my craft table to make it easier to add the long pieces to the bottom. I cut a few pieces of ribbon and twine approx 22" or 24" inches long, fold them in half (one at a time) and then put the fold thru the dreamcatcher and pull the ends thru the folded part to hang them off the bottom - I also added some feathers to a couple of the ribbons by winding some twine around the ends of the feathers and then around the ribbon to hold (I put a little drop of glue on the end so it wouldn't unwind). Lastly I glued a shell to one of the ribbons, and tied a couple knots in the loose ends of the twine.

to make one like this - wind twine around the feathers to
attach to a ribbon, and glue on a shell to another

For the other dreamcatcher I made (below), I wrapped the circle with ribbon so it's smoother. While weaving the actual dreamcatcher I added a few shells and small beads in the netting. I did the same thing as above with flowers, beads, shells, etc. and this one is hanging in our tiny RV - I love it!

August 2015 making dreamcatchers with Brooke and then doing duck face selfies with them for some reason...notice Brooke did not care about following instructions for the weaving part and just wound the floss around the ring however she liked and glued it! Looks good to me!