Friendship bracelets are a great way for you to show your love for each other, and if it were possible, you’d want your friendship bracelet to look perfect for as long you both live.
But making the perfect friendship bracelet, especially if you haven’t been doing it for long, can be quite challenging, and you will make many mistakes. Some of these are fixable, and others aren’t. Below, we’ll share some tips on how to handle common issues that come up when you make a friendship bracelet.
Before we do, it’s important to note that most friendship bracelets do not stand the test of time (even when the friendships do), and when this happens, you end up feeling bad about it. Oftentimes, there’s really nothing you can do about the bracelets – especially if there were design and knitting flaws. And if your friendship bracelet is getting old, perhaps you could get it repaired or replaced – just keep the old one for sentimental value if you cannot wear it anymore, and your friendship means that much.
If you have a friendship bracelet, you know that it might not last forever. Below, we share some of the things you should be ready for, the causes of potential damage, and what to do to fix some of the fixable issues.
Why do my friendship bracelets look bad?
The primary reason why your friendship bracelet looks bad could be something to do with how it was made or knitted. Most of the friendship bracelets are knitted and made of strings. Unfortunately, how the bracelet is knit will affect how the bracelet looks after some time. If the knitting is done wrong or there is something wrong with the patterns, pulling the knot/ string may not be as smooth as you’d hoped.
Unfortunately, there are many instances where the problems with friendship bracelets cannot be fixed in any systematic way, and if you really have to keep it on, fixing it will be more of a trial and error kind of approach.
Why is my friendship bracelet twisting?
The main reason why the bracelet is twisting is that you are not doing the two knots at the same time – as you should. You could also be knotting the bracelet too tightly, and when you do that, the bracelet twists.
If you are doing the double knots, there will be twisting as long as you do one knot after the other instead of the two knots at once.
So, go through the forward and backward knots instructions again. You may not have noticed this before, but these two knots are actually a double knot.
Why does my friendship bracelet have holes?
If your bracelet has holes in it, you are probably pulling strings incorrectly. You might want to try holding the base string in place, then only move the actual knotting string up.
Make sure that there aren’t many forward knots because these often leave you with knots. The bracelet will also have holes if you pull the bottom strings a little too hard. So, be gentle with the strings, and also try knotting the bracelet a little tighter.
Your friendship bracelet might also have holes if the strings are thinning or just too thin. In such cases, the bracelet will have holes in it, no matter how tightly the strings are pulled.
There is also a possibility that you are making too many forward and backward knots. If you do this, there will always be holes.
Why are my friendship bracelets curling?
Often, the friendship bracelet with curl if you don’t make the 2 half hitches necessary for making the knots. Forgetting this means that the bracelet will curl.
The other reason for curling is too much tension/ overtightening the knot. You could stop the curling by loosening the knots.
That said, as long as you are using patterns like the Candy Stripe Pattern, the bracelet will curl, and you just have to work around it.
To flatten out your curled friendship bracelet, block the curls using water. Get the bracelet slightly wet, then place it between paper towels and allow it to dry under the weight of a heavy book.
You could also try ironing your bracelet using a hair straightener or a clothing iron. But before ironing, ensure that your embroidery floss is made of 100% cotton.
How do you make a friendship bracelet look good?
You will face several challenges when making a friendship bracelet, but the good news is that most of the issues faced can be fixed. Below are some of the solutions to the issues faced when making a friendship bracelet.
If a string pops out when you are making the bracelet, you can fix the problem by slightly pulling and tightening the strings affected from the affected area. Create the knot on the inside of the affected line rather than the unaffected ones. So, just tie the first or the affected part of the knot a bit tighter. Note that to tighten the knots, you shouldn’t pull the string from the free end up and out too widely, do it from closer to up for that tight knot.
If the colors look jumbled up, and you can’t really make a pattern off of what you just made, you might have to undo the whole section that looks off. Though this sounds discouraging, it often is the only thing you could do to fix the problem.
If the base color peeks from the sides, for example, it means that there is a tightness problem. To fix this, push the knots further up on the string to get rid of the gaps that make the other background color visible.
The other problem you may face is some knots setting lower than they should. This is a tightness issue too, and you’d have to tighten the knots. This is common with Alfa bracelets, and it happens when you don’t push the strings back tightly or if the string goes in the wring position.
If the edges aren’t straight, it means that the edges weren’t done correctly. Consider making forward-backward knots for the front edge and backward-forward knots from the back edges rather than single forward and backward knots, respectively.
Conclusion
Making friendship bracelets is a meaningful activity that is great for your mental health. But before you make the perfect bracelet, you will make many mistakes.
The good news is that it takes patience, and after some practice, you will have a perfect bracelet.
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Tiger is a fashion&jewelry lover. He is also a fashion jewelry manufacturer that help thousands of small business to grow and also do business with some big fashion jewelry brands. He is a truly metal expert and he will share some information you are looking for.