Thread Wrapped Friendship Bracelets
I’m probably just as excited to teach you how to make thread wrapped friendship bracelets as you are to learn! If you love the look but want something more “real”, try these silk thread wrapped bangles. This post contains affiliate links.
While friendship bracelets were a staple and saving grace of my tween/teen years, there’s one style that I never made back then: thread wrapped friendship bracelets.
I attend toy fairs sometimes to learn about the latest innovations, and I saw this super cool display of friendship bracelets at some fairs I went to – and I HAD to check it out. Turned out, they were advertising the Loopdedoo – a friendship bracelet gadget made by Ann Williams.
I decided to go ahead and buy it (Okay, I confess, I needed to up my purchase from Michaels for “free” shipping and that was my excuse).
ON that note, I’m going to share my review of this little gadget, whether or not it’s necessary for making wrapped friendship bracelets, as well as a full tutorial for how to make thread wrapped friendship bracelets.
Thread wrapped friendship bracelets are really fun and creative. You’ll want to stack them up. They are a fabulous bracelet for fundraisers and sales because the turnaround is pretty quick on them. While I love the other advanced and beginner friendship bracelets I’ve shared here, including the name friendship bracelets, chevron, and diamond friendship bracelets, they do take longer and are hard to sell for a good price point.
Using the Loopdedoo to make thread wrapped friendship bracelets
Loopdedoo wrapping gizmo: review
What it is – and what it isn’t
When people purchase a gadget like the Loopdedoo, they often expect it to “do most of the work”. That is, they require it to not need any skills. However, I don’t find that to be the case.
Much like any low OR high tech crafting gadget, there is a learning curve.
Ultimately, I like to think of the Loopdedoo as a loom more than any fancy gadget. You attach your strings, and use it to easily wrap around the threads so that you’re not winding things around a hundred times – or unwinding it.
So in a nutshell the Loopdedoo is essentially a loom that serves two purposes for making thread wrapped friendship bracelets more easily:
- It holds central base strings taught, in place, so that you can freely wrap around it without getting confused, knotted, or mixing them in.
- It allows you to wrap more easily, by spinning those strings.
Beyond how to use the Loopdedoo, the various ways you can wrap and turn your bracelet require creativity and learned skill. All of these are taught in the clear, concise instruction booklet that come with the Loopdedoo. And I’ll be sharing the basics below.
What I liked about the Loopdedoo
I am always concerned when kits or tools take away creativity. I always seek those that encourage creativity. As I mentioned above, the Loopdedoo is really open-ended, leaving many options for how to wrap a bracelet. It’s more a tool than a kit or a “do it for you” device.
In fact, I think that kids struggle with creativity when it comes to friendship bracelet making. It’s a bit of a “scientific” activity, and most people follow patterns. (I don’t think it would be wise to completely diminish the creativity involved. I came up with this 3D zig zag friendship pattern on my own while sulking in my bedroom as a young teen. Plus there’s the color choice).
The Loopdedoo offers opportunity for kids to come up with their own wraps, with fewer restrictions on creativity.
It also features a storage drawer, and comes with a nice starter stash of threads. So yes, it is a complete kit.
It is lightweight, portable, and quite solidly built. And it even has a built-in ruler for measuring bracelet length as you wrap.
What I didn’t love as much
I did not find it to be the smoothest running, and the turning mechanism seemed to catch sometimes as I spun it. However, I don’t think that this was to a critical degree – it didn’t disrupt the crafting process. It just wasn’t that smooth.
The drawer was a bit difficult to operate. I think that this is intentional – you want it to be portable, and you don’t want it to accidentally open and spill. However, I do think that a simple latch or click mechanism can be enough for that.
Do you need the Loopdedoo to make thread wrapped friendship bracelets?
Technically you can hack it, clipping the center strings in two places, or using heavy duty clips on each side of a clipboard or other rigid surface. Then, you can simply wrap around it.
The Loopdedoo definitely makes it much easier, though. It’s a better system, and you don’t run the risk of wrecking your work when it comes loose. Wrapped bracelets aren’t secured knot-by-knot, so the risk of this is higher.
So the Loopdedoo is fabulous for big kids who are looking to make their own thread wrapped friendship bracelets, and are happy to take the few minutes to learn how to use it.
When you’re done, make sure to introduce them to more designs and teach them how to make a friendship bracelet from scratch! The simple flower bracelet or the daisy chain friendship bracelet are favorites, or get ambitious and try for a Buffalo plaid bracelet!
How to make thread wrapped friendship bracelets
Full video tutorial
Watch the full video if you’re the visual type! There are also step by step images as well as a recipe card that’s “printable” for those of you who prefer those formats.
Supplies needed
- Embroidery floss – included with the original kit
- Scissors
Step by step tutorial
Starting & measuring your thread wrapped friendship bracelets
1. Choose your threads and hold them together. You can make it thinner or thicker, but 3 is a good amount for your first bracelet. Hold the ends together.
2. Double knot them around one of the loops on your Loopdedoo.
3. You’re now going to run your thread back and forth, around the opposite loop, back around the starting loop, etc, at least three times – and up to 23. I started with three times for my first bracelet.
This will help determine the thickness of the bracelet.
Always stop wrapping on the end opposite where your starter knot is. Don’t cut it off yet.
4. Now, you’re going to hook more floss temporarily around the loops, just to measure how much you need for wrapping your bracelet. If you’re working on a thinner bracelet, try four lengths (the distance from hook to hook). For thicker bracelets, try six lengths. Following these guidelines, I always had some extra.
5. Trim off your extra thread.
6. Now remove the threads you looped in step four. You just did this to measure. Let it hang. You should have your long loose thread on the side opposite the starter knot. This is going to become the loop of your final bracelet, that you can use to tie it.
Making the starting knot
1. Drape the threads over the end loop, about 1 cm from the hook.
2. Hold the strings together. Pull it under both all the threads that are still hooked on the loop, and then through so that it comes back over itself.
3. Run it back through the loop that you just formed.
4. Then back under the side of the loop that you just went over.
5. Pull tight and it forms a knot.
Wrapping
1. When wrapping, you can hold your thread with whichever hand you prefer and spin with the other. Use the wheel on the side to spin, as you guide the thread that you just knotted around the center threads. You have control here. You should be working things intentionally, not just arbitrarily spinning. How you wrap is how you’re styling and designing your bracelet.
Make sure to keep your wrap tight and flush against the core threads. For this this bracelet, I used all three colors and simply wrapped them around to cover the center threads completely. Some other ways include color blocking (which I’ll showcase shortly), sticking to a single color wrap, twisting the colors together as you wrap, wrapping more open so that core colors show, going back and forth for a crossover wrap…
Keep wrapping until you hit the size bracelet you’d like.
Finishing and tying off your bracelet
1. Drape your threads over the core at the end of your bracelet and then under the core, back through and over the original thread to form a knot. Pull tight against your wrap.
2. Snip it off the knotted end.
3. Separate your loose threads at the end roughly in half. Make sure you have some of the threads you used for wrapping in each half.
4. Tie the two halves together once.
5. Now you can tie it on by simply placing one half of knots through the loop, and tying it to the other!
Wrapping a color blocked Loopdedoo bracelet
1. When you’re ready to start wrapping, take out the one string you’re ready to start with. Slide the threads you’re not knotting into the notch right on top of the opposite hook.
2. Start looping your first color. (Note: I did work this one a little wrong – so ignore any other details of the bracelet).
3 . When you’re finished with a color, tie it off with the knot you made in step one of tying it off. Insert the color you just worked on into that slot and take out the next color. Repeat the process.
Now that you’ve tried these two, practice with more styles! Experiment, allow for some failure. Some you’ll want to ditch, and some you’ll want to make again and again.
Which styles of thread wrapped friendship bracelets will you be trying first? Comment below!
How to Make Thread Wrapped Friendship Bracelets
Materials
- Loopdedoo Spinning Loom for Bracelets
- Embroidery floss - included with the original kit
- Scissors
Instructions
Starting & measuring your thread wrapped friendship bracelets
1. Choose your threads and hold them together. You can make it thinner or thicker, but 3 is a good amount for your first bracelet. Hold the ends together.
2. Double knot them around one of the loops on your Loopdedoo.
3. You're now going to run your thread back and forth, around the opposite loop, back around the starting loop, etc, at least three times - and up to 23. I started with three times for my first bracelet.
This will help determine the thickness of the bracelet.
Always stop wrapping on the end opposite where your starter knot is. Don't cut it off yet.
4. Now, you're going to hook more floss temporarily around the loops, just to measure how much you need for wrapping your bracelet. If you're working on a thinner bracelet, try four lengths (the distance from hook to hook). For thicker bracelets, try six lengths. Following these guidelines, I always had some extra.
5. Trim off your extra thread.
6. Now remove the threads you looped in step four. You just did this to measure. Let it hang. You should have your long loose thread on the side opposite the starter knot. This is going to become the loop of your final bracelet, that you can use to tie it.
Making the starting knot
1. Drape the threads over the end loop, about 1 cm from the hook.
2. Hold the strings together. Pull it under both all the threads that are still hooked on the loop, and then through so that it comes back over itself.
3. Run it back through the loop that you just formed.
4. Then back under the side of the loop that you just went over.
5. Pull tight and it forms a knot.
Wrapping
1. When wrapping, you can hold your thread with whichever hand you prefer and spin with the other. Use the wheel on the side to spin, as you guide the thread that you just knotted around the center threads. You have control here. You should be working things intentionally, not just arbitrarily spinning. How you wrap is how you're styling and designing your bracelet.
Make sure to keep your wrap tight and flush against the core threads. For this this bracelet, I used all three colors and simply wrapped them around to cover the center threads completely. Some other ways include color blocking (which I'll showcase shortly), sticking to a single color wrap, twisting the colors together as you wrap, wrapping more open so that core colors show, going back and forth for a crossover wrap...
Keep wrapping until you hit the size bracelet you'd like.
Finishing and tying off your bracelet
1. Drape your threads over the core at the end of your bracelet and then under the core, back through and over the original thread to form a knot. Pull tight against your wrap.
2. Snip it off the knotted end.
3. Separate your loose threads at the end roughly in half. Make sure you have some of the threads you used for wrapping in each half.
4. Tie the two halves together once.
5. Now you can tie it on by simply placing one half of knots through the loop, and tying it to the other!
Wrapping a color blocked Loopdedoo bracelet
1. When you're ready to start wrapping, take out the one string you're ready to start with. Slide the threads you're not knotting into the notch right on top of the opposite hook.
2. Start looping your first color. (Note: I did work this one a little wrong - so ignore any other details of the bracelet).
3 . When you're finished with a color, tie it off with the knot you made in step one of tying it off. Insert the color you just worked on into that slot and take out the next color. Repeat the process.
Now that you've tried these two, practice with more styles! Experiment, allow for some failure. Some you'll want to ditch, and some you'll want to make again and again.
