Charlotte's Crafty Attic: December 2015

Hello all hope you had a lovely Christmas. Today I thought I would tell you how I make dreamcatchers. I made some for a craft fair just before Christmas and a couple for Christmas presents and those who received them loved them and I've had a couple of people wanting to know how they are done so thought I would write it up a tutorial. I don't know if there is any "proper" way of making dreamcatchers but this is my way and so far it seems to work very well.

Just note I haven't included the crocheted web for the centre because depending on the size of your hoop you may need one made to different size then mine. However I you can use a doily pattern or make up your own.

Let's start with what we need.

1. Scissors or a stitch picker. It needs to be able to cut very close to your hoop without destroying other stitches.

2. Glue. I use glossy accent crafting glue. It's stronger than Pva but don't worry to much if you haven't got strong craft glue because the beads will help hold the feathers in place anyway. I just like the extra security.

3. A stitching needle, one with a big enough eye for the thread you are using

4. Cotton thread. I used vertuoso by coats which is about a number 8 but the packaging doesn't say and it's discontinued now. Use whatever thin cotton you are comfortable with.

5. As many feathers as you want dangling from your hoop. You can even have more than one together.

6. Crimping beads and as many beads as you want dangling with your feathers. I didn't crimp the beads because the thickness of the feather stem held them tight enough but if you need to then use a crimping tool to do so.

7. The hoop. You can buy hoops from online stores such as Amazon that are suitable for dreamcatchers or you can use the inside hoop of a circular cross stitch frame. I however am currently using plastic hoops that are about 3 1/2 inch in diameter given to me by a friend from an old scarf hanging rack she had. So look what you may have around your house too. So longs the circle is solid and smooth I think just about anything can be used.

8. Lastly pins to hold your stitching in place, but I forgot to add them to the above picture. So here they are...

Ok so now we have everything we need to make our dreamcatcher let's get started with attaching the feathers.

Firstly cut your cotton to a length a bit longer then you would like your feathers dangling from your hoop, this will allow for knoting.

Make sure the stem of the feather is fluff free, about a cm should do it.

Tie the cotton once around the feather as close to the fluff as possible

Wrap the little strand around the feather and smear some glue to hold the strand in place. I make the strand go up the stem ready to add beads.

Add a crimping bead to the long strand of cotton. If you need to use a needle to feed the beads through then do so. Pull what's left of the small strand through the crimping bead and pull the bead over the feather stem. It may take some tugging to get the feather through the bead but be careful not to snap the feather. It maybe that you need to trim or twist the stem to make it fit through better. Be aware that if you use more than one feather your going to need beads with bigger holes in order to fit everything through.

Add another bead to the long strand and again feed through the small strand and end of the feather. I use a large bead after the crimping bead and it helps make the crimping bead more snug if I push down slightly. I then trim the short strand down to the bead.

Add as many more beads to the strand as you want and then tie to the hoop. Do not worry about the little thread left from the knot we will deal with that later.

Repeat these steps for as many feathers as you want to add and place them where you want them on the hoop.

Next you need to make a bobbin with however much cotton you think you need to wrap around your hoop. I just wrapped my cotton in a ball but you would probably be better of wrapping it around a piece of cardboard. For how to do this check my trick or treat blanket post.

Tie the end of your bobbin around your hoop. I like to start at the top because if the knot looks lumpy at the end you don't notice once the thread used to hang the dreamcatcher is added.

Hold the small strand in front and start wrapping your bobbin around it and the hoop. Don't worry that your strands will be to far apart just push them together and keep wrapping around and around. When you think you have trapped enough of the loose strand just cut of the end as close as possible to your wrapping strand so it doesn't poke through. Keep wrapping.

When you get to where you attached the feathers pull the feather strand in front of the hoop. Your wrapping strand goes under and around the cotton strand so it doesn't get in your way. The loose strand from the knot you made earlier goes in front and you wrap over it as in the last step. Do this for all the feathers you have dangling.

When you get back to the start, thread your cotton onto a needle and pass the needle through a couple of strands on the hoop. Do not pull the thread all the way through but instead leave a small ring.

Pass the needle through the ring you just made and pull. This will create a small knot. Pass the thread through several strands on the hoop to weave in the end and then cut the thread as close as possible to the hoop.

This is what you should now have.

Now you have to create a crocheted design for your centre, you could use a doily pattern providing it is to the size of your hoop. I will put my own pattern on here soon, the reason I haven't here is because I would like to explain in a separate tutorial how to attach the beads and make it larger if needed.

This is my crocheted web. I made sure my strand left at the end was big enough to start attaching to my hoop. I weaved in the chain I made to get behind one of the beads.

Go through the 2 loops at the back of the bead.

Thread your needle through a couple of strands on the dreamcatcher where you would like the first point to go and pull tight so that the point of the web is touching the hoop but don't pull so tight that the web crumples up. I like to start at the top.

At this point or even before you attach the web use your pins to mark out where you would like each point to go. Just be careful not to prick yourself like I always do.

Once you are happy with your placement go back to your first point and pass your needle again through the two loops at the back of your bead and through a couple of strands on your hoop. Now if you want you can pull your strand all the way through but once you feel your point is secure enough create a loop to pass your needle through and create a knot. Then weave in the ends by passing your needle through several strands on the hoop.

With each of the other points attach your thread to the loops at the back of your bead. I do this again by creating a loop and passing the short strand through it to hold it in place. Then attach the point as in the last steps. This time you will be left with two loose ends to weave in I do this by passing one through the hoop in one direction and the other in the opposite direction. I try to work at the back of the hoop so that if there is any lumps created from weaving in ends you won't see them once the dreamcatcher is hung on the wall, but so far I really haven't had much of a problem with this. Another thing I thought I would note is that if you do not have beads attached to your doily then just do as I still have and pass your needle though the two loops at the point of your work that you want attached to the hoop.

Once you have attached all your points then thread your needle with a strand long enough to use for hanging your dreamcatcher. Remember you have to fold your strand so it needs to be twice as long as you would want it. Now thread your needle through a couple of strands at the top of your hoop.

Make sure your two ends are of equal length and knot the top together and ta da you have one pretty dream catcher!

This is the view of mine from the back and front just so you can see how neat it looks. Sorry for the mess in the background but unlike my crocheting my desk is never tidy.