Thursday, January 03, 2008

Hand made twisted cord

I like making my own cords and this one is easy and can be made with threads which match any project. The length of finished cord depends on how long your arms are, mine are only short and I can make a cord long enough for a shoulder length bag.
Cut two or three threads each 100 inches long. Tie a simple knot in one end and loop over a pencil. (It is easier to show than to describe so I have included photographs of this, stage by stage). Put a dolly peg into a clamp, head first, and put the pencil behind the peg with the yarn through the slots. Smooth the yarns and tie a knot in the other end.
Slip a pencil behind this knot and twist it in a clockwise direction (ie to the right). Keep twisting until the bunch of yarn starts to buckle/kink. Hold the pencil in one hand and keeping the cord taut,
fold it in half, and hold the centre fold in your other hand. Put the cord through the slot in the peg with the pencil at the back. Start to twist the cord from the centre fold in an anti-clockwise direction (ie to the left). The cord will want to twist in this direction naturally and if you accidentally drop the end it will still twist and form a firm cord. Lift the pencils off the peg, trim the ends of yarn and tie them together to prevent the cord from un-ravelling.


1 comment:

Evie said...

Lucky you, Wendy, taking a workshop run by Pauline Verrinder!!