Macramé lantern: a simple guide for beginners
A cozy macramé lantern is made from a glass jar and macramé cord. Alternating square knots create a net-like pattern on the surface.
Macramé lantern: supplies
- glass jar (about 12 cm tall and 8 cm in diameter / 5 inches tall and 3 inches in diameter)
- 3 mm loosely twisted macramé cord
- measuring tape
- wooden beads
- a piece of thin wire
- a brush or comb
A jam jar, for example, works well as a base for a macramé lantern. Only use safe LED string lights or LED tealights inside the jars. You can use any macramé cord that’s about 2 mm thick. The bigger the jar, the thicker the cord you can use for your project.
Macramé lantern: instructions
1. Loosely wrap a long cord folded in half around the mouth of the glass jar. Tie it loosely with an overhand knot [in Finnish]. Keep it loose so you can easily slide the knotting cords around the doubled cord. You can tighten it at the jar’s mouth later.
2. Cut pieces of cord measuring 40–45 cm (16–18 inches) in length. Attach them at their midpoint using a lark’s head knot [in Finnish]around the doubled cord near the top of the jar.
In this example lantern, 30 cords were tied around a jar that’s 8 cm (3 inches) in diameter, creating a total of 60 knotting strands. If your jar’s circumference is larger, add two pairs of cords; if it’s smaller, remove two pairs.
Tighten the cord around the jar’s mouth as needed. Undo the overhand knot and retie it more tightly. Leave long cord ends after the knot so they can stay beneath the upcoming knots. You can also remove the decorative wrapping from around the jar if the circumference doesn’t fit through the jar’s mouth.
3. Start making square knots [in Finnish]. Tie the first row of square knots so that each knot uses four strands. The two outer strands do the knotting, while the two center strands remain inside the knot. Make the knots close to the lark’s head knots.
4. After the first row, make a second row of knots. In this row, each knot is formed by taking two strands from one knot and two strands from the adjacent knot above. This creates alternating square knots [in Finnish]. You can leave about 1–1.5 cm of space between the knots.
5. Make a total of four rows of alternating square knots. Cut the cord at the bottom edge of the jar. Unravel the cord ends and brush or comb them out.
6. If you like, add bead decorations. Take a piece of cord and tie a knot in it. Make a threading needle from a short piece of thin wire by folding it in half and passing the cord through the folded end. String the wooden beads onto the wire and pull them onto the cord until they meet the knot. Tie another knot and secure it in place.
