
(Automated conversion) at the English language Wikipedia [GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
- Unless the pattern was very specific with the cord’s length, measuring a macrame cord’s quantity is mainly a trial-and-error game. The rule of thumb for this guesstimate depends on whether the design uses a lot of open spaces or closed spaces, or both.
- If the macrame pattern uses a mix of open and closed spaces, then the cord should be estimated to be 4 times the length of the finished piece. The length of the finished piece depends on how much of the cord covers a wrist, neck or ankle.
- If the macrame design uses doubled cords folded in half to form two cords, then the length should be approximately 8 times the length of the finished piece.
- If the piece uses a lot of open spaces and less closed spaces, then shorter cords should be used. If the piece has a closed look, which needs lots of knots, then you will need longer cords.
- Heavier cords will need to be longer than thinner cords because of the knots. Knots using heavier or thicker cords require more length.
- Some types of knots will use up different types of cords at different rates. For example, a long sequence of square knots will use up a lot of cord quantity than core cords. Knotting cords may need to be 5 or 6 times the finished length, while core cords may only need to be twice the finished length.
- Always remember to leave a little extra length for making the knots at the end of a piece and extra for fringes or other decorative endings.
See a related post on macrame cord color trends.
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