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Steps written out by Crafting Step by Step from Living to DIY with Rachel Metz's video (opens YouTube) (5:52). Published .
A macrame curtain lets light in and still softens a window. Rachel Metz of Living to DIY made this one for her office: 15 groups of cotton cord on a wooden dowel, eight rows of alternating square knots and long loose ends that fall past the sill. It uses one knot, repeated. If you can tie a square knot, you can make the whole curtain.
Rachel's window is 52 inches wide and 52 inches high. She cut 30 cords about 120 inches long and used roughly 200 yards in all, four big spools. Knots eat cord, so always buy more than you think and return what you do not open. To size your own: measure the drop from the dowel to where you want the fringe to end, double it, and add a third for the knots. Use a dowel a few inches wider than the window frame.
Single strand cotton cord in 4 or 5mm is soft, easy on the hands and gives the knots a rounded look. Three-ply rope works too and unravels into a fluffy fringe if you comb the ends. Natural cream suits most rooms. You could add beads, a band of colored cord or dye the fringe once it is hanging.
Work with the dowel hanging at eye level, not lying flat. Rachel tied hers up in the garage with scrap yarn. The cords hang straight, so you can see the pattern as it grows and keep the rows even. A clothes rail or two hooks on a door frame work too.
Alternating square knots drift if you do not check them. Keep a tape measure close and measure from the dowel to each knot as you finish a row. Leave the same gap between rows every time. A gap of about 3 inches gives the open, lacy net you see here.
The same panel works as a room divider, a headboard or a backdrop for a party photo booth. Rachel left hers plain white and hangs small potted plants and seasonal decorations off the spare dowel at each end, so the look changes through the year without retying a knot.
New to knotting? Start with how to macrame, then practice the lark's head knot and the square knot. The same knots make a macrame wall hanging and a plant hanger to hang beside your curtain.
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Make a macrame window curtain from cotton cord and a dowel. A medium project: about 5 hours. Materials cost about $45 to $80. You need 9 things, including 2 small nails, jute rope and 2 ceiling hooks. The 10 steps start with measure and Cut the Macrame Curtain Cords, pair and Fold the Macrame Cords in Half, tie the Cord Groups Onto the Dowel With a Lark's Head Knot and start the First Square Knot Under the Dowel.
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Drape a piece of cord over your existing curtain rod and let it hang to where you want the curtain to end. Fold it in half to find the length, then add extra for the knots. Cut that first piece and use it as your guide for the rest. Rachel cut 30 cords for a 52 inch window.
Cut long. A curtain that ends too high is much harder to fix.
Pick up two cords and hold them together as one. Fold the pair in half to find the middle. That fold is the loop that goes over the dowel. Two cords folded in half give you four hanging strands, which is what each square knot needs. Make 15 of these groups for a curtain the size of Rachel's.
Lay the groups out in a row so they do not tangle.
Hang the dowel at a comfortable height first. Put the folded loop of a group over the dowel from the front, then pull all four cord ends down through the loop and tighten. That is a lark's head knot. Repeat for every group, then slide them along the dowel until the spacing is even.
Space the groups first, then tighten each one firmly.
Take one group of four cords. The two middle cords stay still. Put the left outer cord behind the two middles. Bring the right outer cord under the left cord, over the two middles and through the loop on the left side. Pull both outer cords to snug this first half of the knot up under the dowel.
Keep the middle cords taut with your fingers while you tie.
Now mirror the move. Put the right outer cord behind the middles. Bring the left cord under it, over the two middles and through the loop on the right. Pull tight. The two halves lock together into a flat square knot. Tie one on every group across the dowel to finish the first row.
Always switch sides. Two halves on the same side make a spiral.
For row two, leave the first two cords alone. Take the two right cords of one group and the two left cords of the next group, and tie a square knot with those four. The outer cords of the old groups become the middles of the new knot. Work across the whole row. This is what makes the open net.
Row three goes back to the original groups, so the rows alternate.
Keep alternating rows down the curtain. After each row, hold a tape measure against the work and check the distance from the dowel to the knots. Rachel noticed her rows starting to slope and caught it this way. Nudge any knot up or down before you tighten it hard. She tied eight rows in all.
Measure from the dowel every time so small errors do not add up.
For the final row, Rachel took the outer cords of neighbouring groups and joined them with a single overhand knot. It closes each diamond at the bottom and it is quicker than a square knot. You could use this simpler knot for the whole curtain if square knots feel fiddly. Below it, leave the cords hanging loose.
Stop knotting about two thirds down so the fringe can fall free.
Hammer a small nail into each end of the dowel, leaving the heads sticking out. Fold a piece of rope in half to make a loop and slip it over each nail. The rope lets the dowel float in front of the window instead of sitting on brackets. Jute rope or more macrame cord both look good here.
Pre-drill a small hole if your dowel is hardwood so it does not split.
Screw two ceiling hooks above the window, one over each end of the dowel. Loop the ropes onto the hooks and let the curtain settle. Then trim the fringe straight across. Rachel saved the offcuts, knotted them together and hung them from the bare ends of the dowel to fill the gaps at each side.
Trim the fringe once it hangs. Cords stretch a little at first.
Keep going
How to Make a Macrame Snowflake Ornament
More on this topic, picked for this macrame curtain.
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How to Make a Macrame Curtain (Square Knot Window Curtain)
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