Horizontal Stripe Friendship Bracelets
Make these gorgeous, classy horizontal stripe friendship bracelets with a subtle ribbed texture! When you’re done, try making a chevron friendship bracelet. This post contains affiliate links.
When I first learned how to make a horizontal stripe friendship bracelet, a unique spinoff popped in my head. Flip it over instead of running it backwards to have an insanely cool textured bracelet!
To recap: the way a horizontal stripe friendship bracelet is made is a bit different than your regular bracelet.
Instead of having a few strings knotted together with “equal” status, it’s more like a name or alpha friendship bracelet. You have a few hanging strings, and one running string. The hanging string only ever interacts with the running string. For each knot, the hanging string moves one position forward and you need to decide if you’re tying hanging around running or vice versa.
You move it from left to right, and when you reach the end of the row, you move it from right to left.
For this one, instead of reversing and moving it from right to left, you you flip over the whole bracelet so that the running string is always moving from left to right. Also, you’re only knotting with the running thread – the hanging threads are only there to hold it!
Confused? Fear knot 😉 I have step by step instructions and a full length video coming up (make sure you subscribe on YouTube for when it goes live!)
The way the super cool texture on these ribbed horizontal striped friendship bracelets is formed is because you’re looking at the knot from the front and the back. Because you flipped over the bracelet, you’re alternating the back view of the knot and the front. The front is raised, the back is flat. Hence, the texture.
Different ways to make horizontal stripe friendship bracelets
If you were to want to switch off colors for a rainbow stripe, the way most people would do it is to tie a new running thread for each row, and make it “rag rug” style, with fringes on each end.
The way to do it with two colors of alternating stripes is to have two running threads, one on the right, one on the left. Knot the left one around each string left to right and then right to left, and then run the right one around each string right to left and then left to right.
How did I make mine colorful? I simply used an ombre! One is a monochromatic ombre, one is a tie dye. I love the look of the tie dye embroidery floss on this horizontal striped friendship bracelet! It really adds a unique look.
You can go monochromatic with this, and I did on my original sample, but then I messed it up by trying to get fancy and adding a color blocked center. It didn’t quite come out right.
What you’ll need & String Cuts
- One running string – I recommend leaving it on the skein (you’ll use about half a skein give or take, depending on how wide you make it). I used a variegated blue one from this pack for one bracelet and a tie dye from this pack for the other.
- 5-8 strings in any color cut to about 12 inches (you don’t knot these at all, so if you need you can cut them shorter – you just want them to be a workable length.)
To finish it off like I did
How to knot horizontal stripe friendship bracelets
Level: Advanced beginner
Knots Needed
To make horizontal stripe friendship bracelets, the only knot you’ll need to know is the forward knot. If you don’t know this yet, I recommend learning how to make a friendship bracelet on a simpler tutorial than this one. The tutorial I linked has all the basic knots.
Starting your bracelet: You can simply knot them together, or read my tutorial on how to start and finish a friendship bracelet.
You can also see my hack for adding cool ribbon crimps to start and finish things off on my buffalo plaid friendship bracelet pattern.
I like this method the best for wider flat bracelets like this rib texture horizontal friendship bracelet.
Textured bracelet pattern
1. Start by cutting your threads and arranging them as follows: running thread on the left (here the variegated one) and 5-8 hanging threads (these won’t really show and are cut to about 12 inches). You can knot or tape them into position.
You’re going to knot every single knot with the left long thread: the running thread.
2. Take the running thread and make a forward knot (a double knot made of two forward hitches.) You’re knotting the left string twice around the one to the right. Do this once for every hanging thread.
3. Flip your bracelet over to the reverse, so that you can see the backs of the knots and the running thread is once again on the left. Repeat: knot the left running string twice around every one of the hanging strings.
Repeat until your horizontal striped friendship bracelet is complete!
Finish off however you’d like – in this case, by hot gluing a line across each end and using that as traction to secure a ribbon end and a clasp and connector.
DIY Horizontal Stripe Friendship Bracelet
Materials
- One running string (you'll use about half a skein give or take, depending on how wide you make it). I used a variegated blue one from this pack for one bracelet and a tie dye from this pack for the other.
- 5-8 strings in any color cut to about 12 inches
- Thread snippers
- Ribbon ends
- Clasp and connector
- Chain nose pliers
- Hot glue gun
- Washi tape
Instructions
1. Start by cutting your threads and arranging them as follows: running thread on the left (here the variegated one) and 5-8 hanging threads (these won't really show and are cut to about 12 inches). You can knot or tape them into position.
2. Take the running thread and make a forward knot (a double knot made of two forward hitches.) You're knotting the left string twice around the one to the right. Do this once for every hanging thread.
3. Flip your bracelet over to the reverse, so that you can see the backs of the knots and the running thread is once again on the left. Repeat: knot the left running string twice around every one of the hanging strings.
4. Repeat until your horizontal striped friendship bracelet is complete!
Finish off however you'd like - in this case, by hot gluing a line across each end and using that as traction to secure a ribbon end and a clasp and connector.
